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  #161  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2014, 9:26 PM
Drybrain Drybrain is offline
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I check the Statistics Canada website a few times a month and I have noticed that the Halifax employment levels have been stagnant the past couple of years - http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...fss03a-eng.htm. I wonder if part of this could be a reduction in public sector job growth (provincial and federal) to control government deficits? (there have also been private sector job losses)
Maybe? Probably just a generally middle-of-the-road urban economy, coupled with the continuing middling jobs recovery nationwide. Victoria, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal have also seen job growth stagnation in the past 12 months, while Ottawa, the prairies, and Vancouver saw growth. It's been a pretty terrible year, jobs-wise, in the province, as well as for out-migration. We should simply be glad that Halifax is pretty much on par with cities some of the so-so performing cities across Canada, and not bottoming out.

I wish I could fast-forward to see what happens next year. This was one of the worst 12-18 months for Nova Scotia in ages, in terms of population and employment, and I'm thinking it could just be a perfect confluence of factors, not likely to be repeated in the next 12-18 months. I hope I'm right.

Again, the weirdness of Moncton, as compared to Halifax: Labour force and employment growth in that city are at quite robust levels in the past year, looking more like a western city than an eastern one. I won't pretend to understand that. And Saint John, of all places, saw a huge employment increase in the past year. If Nova Scotia doesn't get its shit together, New Brunswick is going to become the (relative) Atlantic powerhouse.
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  #162  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2014, 9:35 PM
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A lot of this is just noise in the monthly data. If you pick a poor baseline month the growth looks relatively good year-over-year and if you pick a good one it looks bad. As a result, these numbers are always flip flopping. On top of that they are based on small samples so there is statistical error. Average annual employment plotted over several years are much more informative. The longer term employment charts I've seen for Halifax have all been positive.
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  #163  
Old Posted Aug 17, 2014, 12:37 AM
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Originally Posted by fenwick16 View Post
I check the Statistics Canada website a few times a month and I have noticed that the Halifax employment levels have been stagnant the past couple of years - http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...fss03a-eng.htm. I wonder if part of this could be a reduction in public sector job growth (provincial and federal) to control government deficits? (there have also been private sector job losses)
The provincial bureaucracy is growing, not shrinking, as there has been zero effort to reduce the size of govt. The only effect on numbers might be the moronic move by the NDP to relocate some jobs outside HRM, but even there many of those affected refused to relocate and so they are still employed in different govt jobs in HRM.

There could be some federal losses, I don't know. Certainly at the municipal level HRM continues to spend like drunken sailors so they are not shrinking. But I think most of this is private sector.
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  #164  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2014, 8:49 PM
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Classic negative spin. If I were the mayor I'd be about as worried by this as immigration:

Quote:
“We need people”
Facing a dwindling population, Halifax is desperate to get more people inside of it. To that end, mayor Mike Savage will be hosting the first ever Mayor’s Barbecue on September 13
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/we-ne...nt?oid=4398996

Part of the issue here is that The Coast doesn't exactly have stellar economic/business reporting. They do an OK job of reporting on small scale local news, cultural events, etc., and that's their main role. Their writers tend to come up with some pretty wacky stuff once they stray into other domains.
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  #165  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2014, 8:54 PM
portapetey portapetey is offline
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Classic negative spin. If I were the mayor I'd be about as worried by this as immigration:



http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/we-ne...nt?oid=4398996

Part of the issue here is that The Coast doesn't exactly have stellar economic/business reporting. They do an OK job of reporting on small scale local news, cultural events, etc., and that's their main role. Their writers tend to come up with some pretty wacky stuff once they stray into other domains.


Yup. And "dwindling?" They can't even get their basics right. Halifax is growing - slowly, but growing.
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  #166  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2014, 10:39 PM
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Yup. And "dwindling?" They can't even get their basics right. Halifax is growing - slowly, but growing.
Sometimes I think that reporting on urban growth as a whole in Canada is calibrated pretty strangely. It tends to be reported as if Calgary-like growth is an ideal that every city should strive for. In reality, most developed countries do not see growth rates like that, they would not be sustainable or desirable in most places, and some of the nicest cities on earth are not seeing much population increase. There's even a tier above Calgary of Fort McMurray type places that have all kinds of problems because of their growth.

Whether or not Halifax does well economically and remains a good place to live depends on how it is planned and managed, not purely how many people immigrate there or how many babies are born. There's lots of room for improvement if the city grows by 2% or 1% or 0.5% per year. Even 0% would be fine if managed correctly.
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  #167  
Old Posted Aug 31, 2014, 2:29 PM
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The tone of the questions asked by the Coast reporter was along the lines of reducing the tuition for foreign students, implying they are being ripped of when they come here. Apparently the reporter is ignorant of the way universities get funded. Clueless reporter, apparently.
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  #168  
Old Posted Aug 31, 2014, 6:05 PM
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The tone of the questions asked by the Coast reporter was along the lines of reducing the tuition for foreign students, implying they are being ripped of when they come here. Apparently the reporter is ignorant of the way universities get funded. Clueless reporter, apparently.
I think it might often be the opposite here in Vancouver. As far as I can tell, independently wealthy people who move to Canada end up with a very low tax burden because they don't have any official income or pay capital gains (and, if you believe the complaints of the Chinese government, a lot of them are not paying their taxes back home...). It used to be comparatively easy to qualify for permanent residency, and those families could enroll their kids in universities and pay the domestic tuition rates. At any rate, this place is more diverse and does get more immigrants but that doesn't mean that life is all sunshine and rainbows here. Housing affordability and access to good quality university spots are both worse here than in Halifax.

That relates back to this confused comment:

Nova Scotia sometimes isn't the most diverse or culturally sensitive place to be

Are they talking about Halifax or Nova Scotia? It's a story about the mayor. Why does it matter that Nova Scotia isn't the most diverse place? Is China bad because it is mostly Chinese people? It is good to be culturally sensitive and accepting to visitors or immigrants but I haven't seen much evidence that Halifax is any worse than other places. I can't speak for the Canso type places but whether or not they are accepting is a moot point since so few people want to move to rural areas in the first place.
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  #169  
Old Posted Sep 17, 2014, 11:04 PM
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Quote:
Halifax: Sailing Toward Firmer Growth, According to BMO Special City Report

BMO releases report on outlook for economy, labour market and housing market in Halifax - 6,000 jobs are expected to be created through 2016

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, Sep 17, 2014 (Marketwired via COMTEX) -- Economic growth in Nova Scotia should improve over the next two years -- despite a number of headwinds. Many factors will lift provincial growth to 1.6 per cent this year and benefit Halifax -- according to a special report from BMO Economics released today, entitled Halifax: Sailing Toward Firmer Growth.

The BMO report notes that real GDP growth in Nova Scotia is expected to hit the 2 per cent mark in 2015, compared to 0.8 per cent in 2013. "The $25 billion contract to build combat ships for the Royal Canadian Navy should provide long-term economic support and the manufacturing sector will benefit from past weakness in the Canadian dollar and a U.S. economy that looks poised to expand at a solid 3 per cent clip through 2015," said Robert Kavcic, Senior Economist, BMO Capital Markets.

Halifax's diverse sector makeup, including education and finance, continues to look stable while offshore exploration from the likes of BP and Shell provides an encouraging growth avenue, according to the BMO report.
Read more here: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hal...-09-17-5173120
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  #170  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2014, 2:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
The tone of the questions asked by the Coast reporter was along the lines of reducing the tuition for foreign students, implying they are being ripped of when they come here. Apparently the reporter is ignorant of the way universities get funded. Clueless reporter, apparently.
its the same guy that wrought that we need another Burnside industrial park. Jacob Boon is just a idiot in general. I never read anything he has put to print
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  #171  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2014, 7:56 PM
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Somewhat relevant to this thread, economic think tank Conference Board of Canada ranked 50 Canadian cities on income/economic/quality of life factors, and Halifax came out very strongly, overall.

Two quibbles.

1. Our ranking for population density was lower than any other city except Thunder Bay, which is false, as far as I'm concerned: It's based on the fact that the city is the entirety of Halifax County, and no other city in the country encompasses an amalgamated land area nearly as large. Our population density 71 people per sq. km., which is ridiculous in terms of the way people actually live, since most of that is undeveloped woods and/or farmland. It's a useless number and not comparable to other cities. (In fact, to a lesser degree, density comparisons between all Canadian metropolitan areas are generally useless since they're all measured so differently.) So our density score should be way higher.

2. For the same reason, we scored really highly on commuting, with only four percent of people commuting out of the city. Clearly this is meant to measure how much of a metro area's residents also work in the metro—so if someone in Toronto is going out to an office park in Oshawa (different CMA) to work, that lowers the score. But again, because HRM encompasses such a ridiculous land area, this score should be worse.
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  #172  
Old Posted Nov 3, 2014, 6:50 PM
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I post this mainly as an idea for economic development.
Considering the number of movies that tend to be filmed in and around the Nova Scotia area; building something like this might be worthwhile for the Halifax area. Unless there is already a large studio space available? I thought the studio at the old Power station is going to be lost due to the Discover Centre.

Calgary Film Centre breaks ground
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  #173  
Old Posted Nov 3, 2014, 9:42 PM
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The film industry is strong here, don't know what is available at the moment.

Of course this might not be necessary if those Chinese investors bring those cruise ships to town configured to be floating film studios....
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  #174  
Old Posted Nov 3, 2014, 9:45 PM
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Isn't there a big facility somewhere in Burnside? I seem to recall stories of a big party they hold every year that I never get invited to.
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  #175  
Old Posted Nov 3, 2014, 10:49 PM
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Isn't there a big facility somewhere in Burnside? I seem to recall stories of a big party they hold every year that I never get invited to.
You're probably thinking of tourtech/White's on Thornhill. I haven't been there and don't know how much they are able to do at that location, but I thought their main business was to supply services/equipment for remote shooting.

http://www.whites.com/contact/halifax
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  #176  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2015, 5:12 PM
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Statistics Canada has revised their employment and population numbers up for 2014 for NS. Halifax's estimated year-over-year gain in employment is 5,200, which is pretty impressive (+2.3% employment): http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...fss04a-eng.htm

In the long run, steady employment growth is much more important than population growth, because people eventually tend to go where the well-paying jobs are.
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  #177  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2015, 7:28 PM
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Statistics Canada has revised their employment and population numbers up for 2014 for NS. Halifax's estimated year-over-year gain in employment is 5,200, which is pretty impressive (+2.3% employment): http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...fss04a-eng.htm

In the long run, steady employment growth is much more important than population growth, because people eventually tend to go where the well-paying jobs are.
For sure, and yet the population growth was pretty good too. Only lagging a bit behind the country's major metros (except Montreal, which is growing very, very slowly). All this "Halifax is stagnating/declining" stuff really seems overblown when you see stats like this.
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  #178  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2015, 9:18 PM
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Is the population calculated differently in these stats then others? I thought we were up to about ~391k before but this one shows ~345k?

All in all good stats and there are jobs in Halifax, no mater what the naysayers say.
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  #179  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2015, 9:46 PM
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Originally Posted by DigitalNinja View Post
Is the population calculated differently in these stats then others? I thought we were up to about ~391k before but this one shows ~345k?

All in all good stats and there are jobs in Halifax, no mater what the naysayers say.
That's labour force, not including kids under 15 (and maybe retired seniors?) etc.

Population estimates is 415k.

Last edited by q12; Feb 12, 2015 at 4:28 PM.
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  #180  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2015, 11:43 PM
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That's labour force, not including kids under 15 (and maybe retired seniors?) etc.

Population estimates should be somewhere in the 410k - 415k.

It excludes children under 15 years old as you indicated but it appears to include seniors. At the bottom of this table - http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...fss03a-eng.htm - it states "Note: Population 15 and over."

It is good to see that Halifax is continuing to have steady employment and population growth.
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