Labour Market Monitor - Southern Nova Scotia
May 2011
This is an overview of the Southern Region which includes Digby, Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens and Lunenburg Counties.
The Labour Market Monitor is a monthly report focusing on labour market information produced by a local Labour Market Information Analyst.
Labour Force Trends
Employment remained relatively stable in the Southern region on a year over year basis, with little change in either full or part time employment. The labour force, however, declined markedly over the period. Correspondingly, the level of unemployment fell sharply as the labour force contracted, and the unemployment rate declined to 11.1 percent in May 2011 compared to 13.9 percent in May 2010.
For more information, please visit the Statistics Canada website at: www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/lfss05b-eng.htm
| Southern | May | |
|---|---|---|
| Region: 240 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Labour Force (000) | 59.8 | 57.5 |
| Employed (000) | 51.5 | 51.2 |
| Full Time | 39.3 | 39.4 |
| Part Time | 12.2 | 11.8 |
| Unemployed (000) | 8.3 | 6.4 |
| Participation Rate (%) | 60.2 | 58.4 |
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 13.9 | 11.1 |
| Data is 3 month moving average from the Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada | ||
Labour Market News by Industry
Construction
Liverpool will see another housing development get underway, aimed at single level retirement living. Creek Side Ridge got the go ahead in early May after the council approved the sale of municipally owned land. The construction will be single story and have four units in each building. According to the development proposal, initially there will be four buildings, with expansion over the next three to five years to a total of 12 to 14 buildings. Liverpool Advance - 17 May 2011
Manufacturing
Tri-Star Industries, a Yarmouth-based ambulance and specialty vehicle manufacturer, is planning a 10,000-square-foot expansion to its existing plant. By enlarging and modernizing the plant, the company will be able to manufacture large mobile health clinics up to 12 metres in length. The company has clients in over 30 countries with annual sales of $12 to $15 million and a workforce of 65 employees. Yarmouth Vanguard - 5 May 2011
Sable Fish Packers, located on Cape Sable Island in Shelburne County, had to lay-off an estimated 50 employees after an early morning fire damaged the herring processing facility in late May. The section of the plant damaged was used for filleting herring, with the rest of the building only incurring smoke damage. Four out of eight herring filleting machines were significantly damaged. They are manufactured in Germany and not quickly replaced. The plant manager stated it could take two or three months to get the herring room back in operation. Shelburne Coastguard - 31 May 2011
Clearwater closed its Clark's Harbour facility in Shelburne County, causing 20 people to lose their jobs. The dry-land lobster storage plant was closed because of company restructuring that will see operations centralized at their Arichat plant in Cape Breton. The Clark's Harbour closure will see additional people hired at Clearwater's Pierce Fisheries in Lockeport, Shelburne County. In a typical year more than a million pounds of live lobster moved through the facility to customers across North America, Europe and Asia. Shelburne Coastguard - 31 May 2011
Business, Building & Other Support
The director of the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency stated that Alpine Access Canada, a major provider of virtual contact centre services, is interested in former Convergys employees. He stated that as many as 150 former workers could be recruited by Alpine as they want to hire 600 work-at-home customer care professionals. Alpine has no interest in the former Convergys building. Digby Courier - 19 May 2011
Education
The South Shore Regional School Board released their updated budget statistics in early May, outlining $2.7 million in reductions. Out of this, 52 full time equivalent positions were cut including 19 from regional staff, 11 school-based teachers and 32 support positions including library, program support and administrative assistants. The Board chair stated that nine out of the 11 school-based teachers would have been eliminated anyway due to declining enrolment. Liverpool Advance - 2 May 2011
As part of efforts to address a $5.7 million provincial budget shortfall for NSCC, two programs at Burridge Campus in Yarmouth have been suspended for the upcoming academic year, Computer Service Technician and Tourism Management. The college has also laid off three people in Yarmouth and is proposing a three percent tuition increase for all its campuses, the first increase since 2008. Yarmouth Vanguard - 24 May 2011
The Tri-County Regional School Board approved next year's budget in late May. The Board saw a $1.4 million reduction in funding from the province. The Board calculated 262 fewer students in the upcoming school year, leaving 6,697 students in the system, and found $900,000 in savings through teaching staff. Part of this was achieved by not replacing 18 of 37 retiring teachers. In addition to the cuts in teaching positions, there will also be six fewer administrative jobs next September. Yarmouth Vanguard - 31 May 2011
Health Care & Social Assistance
The $14.9 million expansion of Bay Side Home is complete and residents began moving into the new facility in early June. The facility's director stated that 40 of the 45 additional staff were hired as of early May. Other additions include a rehabilitation room, staffed by a full-time physiotherapist aide, an examining room for visiting doctors, a family room for overnight visitors and a beauty salon. Shelburne Coastguard - 3 May 2011
Public Administration - Provincial
The provincial government announced that the minimum wage in Nova Scotia will increase to $10 per hour on October 1. This is a 3.6 percent increase from the present rate of $9.65 per hour. After the increase in October, future increases will occur in April, beginning in 2012, indexing the minimum wage to the low income cut off by using the national consumer price index from the previous calendar year. Various Sources - 17 May 2011
Public Administration - Provincial
The Municipality of Clare purchased the former Comeau Lumber property in Meteghan with plans of developing an industrial park that comes with its own on-site renewable energy through a biomass plant that can produce one megawatt of electricity. The $225,000 purchase was paid for completely with federal gas tax funds and also includes all the associated equipment at the plant. The Municipality now plans to prepare the site to accommodate tenants. Digby Courier - 12 May 2011
Note: In preparing this bulletin, 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 the bulletin 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 bulletin does not necessarily reflect official policies of Service Canada.For more information please contact:
David Doucette
Labour Market Information Analyst
david.doucette@servicecanada.gc.ca
or visit our website at: www.labourmarketinformation.ca