Engineering services revenues climb in 2020, despite difficult year: StatsCan
Engineering services’ revenues weathered a difficult year in 2020, growing by 1.9 percent to a combined $33.7 billion, Statistics Canada reports.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many activities related to the engineering services industry were categorized as essential – chiefly those tied to construction projects in the energy, mining and transportation sectors. Still, significant economic uncertainty weighed on business expansion plans. There were also delays in the development of projects – particularly at the onset of the pandemic and during 2020 – because of COVID-19 outbreaks among workers, which may have impacted project development timelines.
Operating expenses in the sector grew 3.3% to $30.7 billion in 2020. Salaries, wages, commissions and benefits totalled $14.1 billion in 2020, accounting for 45.8% of the engineering industry's total operating expenses. The cost of goods sold , at 24.2%, was the second highest operating expense. The operating profit margin was 8.9% in 2020, down from 10.1% in 2019.
Engineering services relating related to petroleum and petrochemical plant and process engineering projects had the largest share (19.0%) of total sales in 2020, increasing 3.5 percentage points from 15.5% of total sales in 2019. Commercial, public and institutional building engineering projects had the second largest share (17.0%) of total sales in 2020.
Clients in the business sector made up 66.0% of sales in the engineering services industry in 2020, while governments and public institutions accounted for 20.7%. Customers outside Canada accounted for 9.6% of sales in 2020. Foreign sales were almost evenly split between the United States (43.8%) and all other countries (56.2%).