Labour Market Monitor - Annapolis Valley NS
August 2010
This is an overview of the Annapolis Valley Region which includes Hants, Kings and Annapolis Counties. The Labour Market Monitor is a monthly report focusing on Labour Market Information.
Labour Force Trends
The labour market in the Valley Region weakened on a year-over-year basis in August. Employment contracted slightly compared to August 2009. The decrease in full-time work (1,500) was almost offset by an increase in the number of part-time jobs (1,400). The labour force increased by a modest amount. The level of unemployment increased in August when compared with the same month last year. As a result, the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 percent in August 2009 to reach 8.7 percent this year.
For more information, please visit the Statistics Canada website at: www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/lfss05b-eng.htm
| Valley | August | |
|---|---|---|
| Region: 230 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Labour Force (000) | 61.7 | 62.2 |
| Employed (000) | 57.0 | 56.8 |
| Full Time | 47.7 | 45.9 |
| Part Time | 9.6 | 11.0 |
| Unemployed (000) | 4.7 | 5.4 |
| Participation Rate (%) | 60.7 | 60.9 |
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 7.6 | 8.7 |
| Data is 3 month moving average from the Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada | ||
Labour Market News by Industry
Agriculture
A massive over-supply of cranberries from Massachusetts and other parts of the United States and Canada is forcing marketers to look for new ways to sell the fruit abroad. The current cranberry glut - with record production levels in 2007 and 2008 - is primarily due to new plants that can produce double and triple the yields of a decade ago. As such, the price of a barrel plummeted 19% this year. About 21 producers in Nova Scotia produce close to 360 tonnes of cranberries each year. The industry is worth approximately $1 million in the province. Chronicle Herald - August 9, 2010
No Farms No food is calling on the province to strengthen agricultural land protection, and on Kings County and the province to place a moratorium on development on agricultural land to ensure food security. Kings County Council recently approved development for 167 acres of agricultural land in Port Williams. There is also a hotel proposal for an agricultural lot in Greenwich at the Highway 101 interchange, awaiting consideration of access and rezoning; and private landowners along Highway 1 in Greenwich have applied to develop 380 acres. Kings County Register - August 12, 2010
Nova Scotia Apple growers are experiencing their earliest harvest in half a century, with farmers picking their crops at least 1-2 weeks earlier this year. The benefit, from a grower's point of view, is there will be less risk of frost during the last days of October. Growers are in the final year of a 5-year tree replacement program, where old orchards are being replaced with the new Honeycrisp variety of apples, which are more profitable. Chronicle Herald - August 30, 2010
Construction
Bridgetown's $3.3 million water treatment system is now online. Annapolis County Spectator - August 26, 2010
Construction remains on schedule for the new multimillion-dollar Apple Dome sports and recreation complex in Berwick. The official opening of Phase I ($11.4 million) is planned for October while construction of Phase 2 is not expected to start until spring 2011. Chronicle Herald - August 14, 2010
A Wolfville property owner recently received approval to subdivide her Highland Ave. property in order to build 16 detached units on three lots. Kings County Register - August 5, 2010
Nova Scotia's Highway 101 has a new four lane section through a 7.4 kilometre stretch of Hants County between St. Croix and Three Mile Plains. The governments of Canada and Nova Scotia joined forces to fund the project, which took five years to compete at a cost of about $22 million. The Transportation Department says future work will be done on a section between Three Mile Plans and Falmouth. Chronicle Herald - August 10, 2010
A $1.25 million road infrastructure project on Commercial Street in Berwick is in full swing but will not be officially completed until summer 2011, when the final curbing, second paving and sidewalks are completed. Kings County Register - August 26, 2010
The construction of the Town of Middleton's new sewage treatment plant ($4.3 million) is on schedule and budget. It is expected the construction of the new system will be finished in December, with final change over by April 1, 2011. Annapolis County Spectator - August 26, 2010
Manufacturing
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Michelin's Waterville tire plant on August 18 to showcase the Federal Work-Sharing Program which helped Michelin "weather the storm" of the recent global economic crisis which saw the North American tire market decline significantly. The decline in new supply was 45%, and the replacement market was down an unprecedented 23%. Michelin negotiated with Service Canada to start the Work-Sharing Program with 578 plant staff volunteering for reduced hours while Employment Insurance added income support for the difference in their pay-cheques. This helped Waterville avoid 95 lay-offs. Production is now back in full swing and the plant has recently added over 90 jobs. Hants Journal - August 26, 2010
Frito Lay Canada is investing more than $2 million in its New Minas operations to upgrade production equipment and make the facility more environmentally sustainable. The Nova Scotia plant manufactures a number of Frito Lay Canada products for retail and foodservice customers in Eastern Canada including Lay's and Ruffles potato chips. About 30% of the New Minas plant's supply of potatoes is from the community, and the remaining 70% is shipped from Prince Edward Island. Frito Lay Canada is a major employer in the region with about 140 full-time and hourly employees. Through Nova Scotia Business Inc. the province is supporting the company and its upgrades with a five-year payroll rebate of up to $500,000. In a related story, some local potato farmers are concerned that there has been a downward trend in the use of local potatoes for production at the plant. According to Donna Crawford, administrative coordinator for Horticulture Nova Scotia, there are currently only nine growers left in Nova Scotia with four of them producing part-year for the plant. However, a Frito Lay spokesperson maintains that they are committed to purchasing potatoes from Nova Scotia if growers can meet their raw material criteria. Atlantic Farm Focus - August 12, 2010 Kings County Register - August 17, 2010
Nova Scotia is providing a 5-year payroll tax rebate of up to $500,000 to Weavexx, a division of Xerium Technologies Inc., to help the company with equipment upgrades. Weavexx makes forming, press, dryer, and engineered fabrics for pulp and paper and specific industrial applications. The U.S. based company employs 140 people in Kentville and has been in Kentville for more than 40 years. Weavexx has increased its export market, including Asia, which makes up a significant portion of the Kentville plant's business. Chronicle Herald - August 4, 2010
Trade
Shay's Tirecraft in Berwick recently became the 11th store to open up in Atlantic Canada under the Tirecraft banner. Web: www.tirecraft.com. Daily Business Buzz - August 4, 2010
Fritz's (Kentville) is set to close Sept. 30, 2010. The building has been sold to new owners who will be taking over the adjacent enviro-depot operation New Minas Recycling. Chronicle Herald - August 16, 2010
Plazacorp Retail Properties confirms Giant Tiger will join Michael's Crafts Supplies at the company's Silver Fox property in New Minas. Giant Tiger, a Canadian company with 195 franchises, recently announced the 20,000-square-foot store will open October 16. Sally Beauty is opening in the Granite Drive part of the site and a Wicker Emporium will be located next to the new Reitman's store. Web: www.gianttiger.com ; www.michaels.com Kings County Advertiser - August 3, 2010
Fox Mountain Garage in Morristown recently opened its store, gas pumps and garage in the former Glendon Harris Garage location. Kings County Advertiser - August 31, 2010
Professional/Scientific/Technical Services
The new Schaffner Computers location is at 8911 Commercial Street in New Minas. Phone: (902)365-3888. King's County Advertiser - August 24, 2010
Education
Maintenance employees at Acadia University have a new 3-year collective agreement with Sodexo Canada as of August 5th which includes hourly wage increases in each of the three years. The deal also provides for increases in vacation, bereavement and sick leave accumulation. King's County Advertiser - August 17, 2010
Acadia University's Board of Governors and members of the Acadia University Faculty Association (AUFA) have ratified a new collective agreement that will run until June 30, 2014. King's County Advertiser - August 17, 2010
Health Care and Social Assistance
The emergency room (ER) at the Valley Regional Hospital has more than doubled in size with two new isolation rooms, two enlarged trauma rooms and about eight more beds. The department is staffed with six nurses during the day and four at night with one physician on the floor 24/7 and two during the day. The fall, post-Christmas and late winter are the most hectic periods at Valley Regional. The establishment of a clinic this fall to serve patients without a family doctor is currently being explored. Annapolis County Spectator - August 12, 2010
The Our community, Our Health campaign is an $8 million effort to expand Healthcare services at Valley Regional Hospital and build the first Valley hospice/palliative care centre. The hospital's physical upgrade has finished, but two major pieces of equipment have yet to be purchased: a medication delivery system and computerized information system for the emergency unit. www.ourcommunityourhealth.ca Annapolis County Spectator - August 12, 2010
The Friends of the Annapolis Community Health Centre try to get straight assurances about the future of their emergency room (ER)and are fearful that recent reports from the Department of Health appear to set the stage for a possible closure, or at least a reduction of hours at the health centre's ER. Janet Knox, Annapolis Valley Health AVH chief administrative officer said while there are no immediate plans to change the status quo at the ER in Annapolis Royal, she can not guarantee this will not change after the final province-wide strategy for ERs is completed. Increasingly, doctor shortages across the Annapolis Valley have forced ERs to suspend service for short periods of time. There is some local encouragement as a result of the addition of a new doctor, Simon Bonnington, and the return of Dr. Ken Buchholz full time. Annapolis County Spectator - August 5, 2010
Information, Culture and Recreation
Kentville and Ducks Unlimited Canada officially opened the Miner Marsh trail system on August 12. Ducks Unlimited will manage the habitat portion of the project, while the town takes care of the bridge and trail infrastructure. The site has 1.5 kilometres of walking and biking trails, viewing platforms and interpretative signs. King's County Advertiser - August 10, 2010
The multimillion-dollar Lifeplex Wellness Centre in Cornwallis has suffered another setback as Annapolis County Council has decided not to renew contracts with users of the facility's swimming pool, which shut down August 31. The $7.5-million facility was closed last March because of the cost to tax papers, but the County kept the pool open and allowed swimming groups to use it throughout the summer. The County is working with the provincial YMCA to secure funding from governments to move ahead with the proposed YMCA take-over of the centre. Chronicle Herald - August 24, 2010
Kings County Council had committed to $240,000 for major renovations over three years to the Glooscap arena in Canning, if federal funding is received. However, Council has decided to grant its first installment of $80,000 without the federal funding being in place. Kings County Register - August 12, 2010
Accommodation and Food Services
Coldbrook's Wandlyn Inn has a new sign - Pine View Inn - to denote a name change as Wandlyn Inns is no longer a chain. Ownership of the motel has not changed. Kings County Register - August 26, 2010
Fans of the defunct Vegetarian Lunchbox in Wolfville can check out the Main Street restaurant's successor - The Rolled Oat - which is now open. King's County Advertiser - August 3, 2010
Public Administration
The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, which represents about 7,700 members of the civil service, has accepted a new contract with the province which includes a 1% pay increase in each of the next two years. The agreement enhances job security, along with health and safety and is retroactive to April 1 and expires March 31, 2012. CBC News - August 25, 2010
Kings County Council's committee of the whole is recommending council approval of a paving project for Howe Avenue in Greenwood for this fall at an estimated cost of $100,000. King's County Advertiser - August 3, 2010
Kings County and the union representing some of its employees have signed a new 3-year contract providing for wage increases of 2.5%, 2% and 2% over the life of contract. King's County Advertiser - August 3, 2010
Miscellaneous
The Small Business Internship Program is a federal program, administered by the Department of Industry, which provides financial support to small-and medium-sized businesses to employ a student-intern who can assist them in increasing the usage of e-commerce strategies to improve their productivity and competitiveness in the marketplace. Apply at: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/sbip-pspe.nsf/eng/home The program will be available until March 31, 2014 but applications must be submitted before the end of December 2010. King's County Advertiser - August 31, 2010
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: glenn.mcmullen@servicecanada.gc.ca
or visit: www.labourmarketinformation.ca