A: Employment Survey

Identification of the Survey Population

Over 200 firms received employment surveys for the YWG economic impact study including airport tenants, offsite firms, hotels, and ground transportation firms directly related to or dependent upon the airport. WAA provided a list of airport tenants and, together with InterVISTAS, identified the offsite employers, hotels, and ground transportation firms closely tied to airport operations.

Questionnaire Design

The basic questionnaire was designed to be effective in obtaining information and, equally importantly, to be as clear and easy to understand as possible for respondent firms. The basic survey was provided to employers at each airport. Three other surveys were developed for offsite employers, hotel employment, and ground transportation employment. The basic questionnaire provided to airport tenants focused on questions in the following areas:

General Information

  • Name and address of firm

  • Contact person's name, phone number, and email address

  • Company website

  • Type of business and the proportion related to the airport and/or air service

Total Employment Numbers in 2019

  • Total current employees (as of September 2019)

  • Anticipated gain/loss in employees by end of 2019

  • Total annual payroll

  • Number of onsite employees

  • Number of offsite employees

Part-time and Full-time Employment

  • Full-time permanent employees

  • Part-time permanent employees

  • Full-time seasonal employees

  • Part-time seasonal employees

  • Average hours and weeks for part-time and seasonal employees

Employment by Trade

  • A selection of job trades was provided to categorise employment

Outsourcing and Contracting Out

  • Number of individuals on contract

  • Number and names of firms on contract

Taxes

  • Property taxes paid in the previous year (2018)

A copy of the survey is provided in Appendix B.

Conducting the Survey

The survey was mailed out electronically by InterVISTAS Consulting with a cover letter from WAA Chief Commercial Officer, Pascal Bélanger. The letter explained the purpose of the study, the confidentiality of responses, and encouraged members of the airport business community to participate.

Following the initial electronic mail-out of the surveys and throughout the following weeks, non-responding firms were contacted by telephone to follow up. Firms were encouraged to return the survey, and new copies were offered if the originals were lost. The replacement surveys were emailed once again or sent via fax. Some survey responses were collected via a telephone interview with firms.

Estimating Ground Transportation Impacts

In addition to surveying key ground transportation firms across various vehicle types (e.g. taxis, buses, limousines, regional/hotel/offsite parking shuttles and corporate vehicles), the team assessed WAA-provided data on ground transport trips to and from the airport in order to estimate the scale of ground transport operations serving YWG.

Analysis of the Results

The survey results were compiled, cleaned, and analysed in MS Excel.