Labour Market Monitor - Halifax
December 2010
This is an overview of the Halifax Region which includes all of Halifax County. It consists of dense urban areas, as well as less populated communities. The Halifax County line starts along the coast just west of Hubbards and runs along the coast including Dartmouth, Lawrencetown, Tangier, Sheet Harbour, and Moser River. Communities along the top of the border include Enfield, Milford, Upper Musqoudoboit, and Dean.
The Labour Market Monitor is a monthly report focusing on Labour Market Information.
Labour Force Trends
The labour market in Halifax deteriorated from December 2009 to December 2010, with employment decreasing by 2,300. This represented a drop in full time work of 3,800 which was partially offset by an increase of 1,500 in part time work. With the labour force decreasing by 1,800, unemployment increased slightly (600) in the region and the unemployment rate increased to 6.2% this month compared to 5.9% for the same month last year.
For more information, please visit the Statistics Canada website at: www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/lfss05b-eng.htm
| Halifax | December | |
|---|---|---|
| Region: 250 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Labour Force (000) | 230.2 | 228.4 |
| Employed (000) | 216.7 | 214.4 |
| Full Time | 177.2 | 173.4 |
| Part Time | 39.5 | 41.0 |
| Unemployed (000) | 13.5 | 14.1 |
| Participation Rate (%) | 71.3 | 69.9 |
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 5.9 | 6.2 |
| Data is 3 month moving average from the Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada | ||
Labour Market News by Industry
Business Building and Other Support Services
N.S. Air Cleaning Solutions Ltd., a Burnside Park air purification company located at 10 Morris Drive, filed for bankruptcy this month. It was unclear how many employees were affected by the closure. (Chronicle-Herald, December 18)
Construction
Construction of the new $55 million central Halifax library is expected to start in 2011, with the building to be open to the public by early 2014. The 109,000 square foot building will house a book collection 50 percent larger than the current library. (Chronicle-Herald, December 3)
Economic Conditions
According to RBC Economics, Nova Scotia's Economy grew at a modest 1.8 percent in 2010 and is forecasted to be relatively weak in 2011 compared to the rest of Canada. The bank is predicting that the momentum in construction will slow as major projects are completed and as housing starts decline over the next two years. Exports should receive a boost in 2011 once Encana's Deep Panuke natural gas projects starts producing and tourism will get a boost from the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax. (Chronicle-Herald, December 17)
Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction
The $800-million Deep Panuke natural gas project is expected to have gas flowing late in 2011, once the offshore production field centre is completed in Abu Dhabi and transported for final hook-up and commissioning. A recent report by RBC forecasts that EnCana's Deep Panuke project (www.encana.com) will increase economic growth to 1.5 percent in 2011 and two percent in 2012. Nova Scotia's offshore industry has struggled with low natural gas prices and declining gas production at the ExxonMobil-led Sable offshore project. Deep Panuke is located about 250 kilometres southeast of Halifax and is Nova Scotia's first offshore development since the Exxon Mobil Sable offshore project. (Chronicle-Herald, December 31)
Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
SimplyCast.com of Dartmouth plans to add about 100 new people to its staff over the next five years with a five-year provincial payroll rebate worth up to $1 million. The company calls itself a multi-channel marketing software provider including email marketing, survey marketing, event marketing, and auto-responders. SimplyCast.com plans to start recruiting in January for jobs in sales, software development, system administration, marketing and client support. (Chronicle-Herald, December 14)
Public Administration
The Nova Scotia government's new growth strategy, called JobsHere (www.gov.ns.ca/jobshere), is looking to focus on long-term sustainable jobs, with less emphasis on call centre development. According to a cabinet minister, call centres have been impacted by the strong Canadian dollar and cheap labour abroad. The province will continue to use payroll rebates to attract companies, including those in the financial, information technology, defence, and aerospace sectors. (Chronicle-Herald, December 17)
Real Estate
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) (www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca) reported that Halifax's vacancy rate dropped to 2.6 percent in 2010 from 2.9 percent in 2009. According to a senior market analyst with CMHC's Atlantic Business Centre in Halifax, the steady demand for rental units is a result of migration to metro Halifax, coupled with a lack of new rental construction due to economic uncertainty. Halifax is home to 84 percent of Nova Scotia's rental units. (Chronicle-Herald, December 11)
Transportation & Warehousing
Local airline, East Coast Airways (www.eastcoastairways.com), ceased operations just a month after running about a dozen flights between Halifax and Sydney. Operating as a division of Alberta-based Integra Air Inc., issues became apparent with the transfer of aircraft maintenance and dispatch paperwork. According to Integra's president, aircraft were safe at all times and East Coast Airways may fly again once policies and procedures have been re-evaluated. (Chronicle-Herald, December 31)
Note: In preparing this Labour Market Monitor, Service Canada has taken care to provide clients with labour market information from reliable sources that is timely and accurate at the time of publication. Since labour market conditions are dynamic, some of the information presented here may have changed since this document was published. Readers are encouraged to also refer to other sources for additional information on the local economy and labour market. Information contained in this document does not necessarily reflect official policies of Service Canada.For more information please contact your local Labour Market Information Analysts for Halifax:
neill.evans@servicecanada.gc.ca
or
glenn.yetman@servicecanada.gc.ca
or visit our website at: www.labourmarketinformation.ca