Quote:
Originally Posted by fenwick16
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)
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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.