FIFA World Cup: What could 2026 mean for Toronto?
By Nick McAdam
Jobs
A lot of what would be created in terms of employment would be temporary as well, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Long-term construction projects could see the employment rate in that specific field jump over the course of time. However, as soon as these projects end, it goes back down in a heartbeat.
It’s not just construction either. Everything from promoting the event, staffers and even security will be on the hike once 2026 rolls around.
It’s a predicted outcome in terms of employment. It will bounce up and then go back down, but at the very least, the opportunity will hopefully be there for workers. USA Today traces back to the 2006 World Cup in Germany, which totaled an impressive employment statistic:
"From construction to maintenance to staffers at games, any World Cup contains numerous tasks that require more workers. In the 2006 World Cup, host nation Germany created 50,000 new jobs to support the event."
The big concern around employment is how to finance these jobs. The money used to create these positions will have to be paid back, which the source goes on to mention when saying:
"“Most of the jobs will be built on debt, (which) has to be paid back,” he said. “Even if you are creating a few extra jobs today, in the future the city will have less money to issue debt to build other things.”"
This sort of ties back into the stadium infrastructure, in that it’s a situation which has its ups and downs. With employment, however, a lot of these areas mentioned can be predicted and pin-pointed – it’s just another decision the city of Toronto will have to make.