Replacing the baby boom

[skyscraper_1]

Five years ago, the rallying cry of business development in Nova Scotia was jobs, jobs, jobs.

With today’s changing demographics and a spate of announcements in 2006 that heralded bustling financial and technology sectors in the province, the new development chorus is people, people, people (or as professionals in the field call it, recruitment and retention).

"We can’t afford to bring a company to the province and have them unable to find the workers they need," said Stephen Lund, head of Nova Scotia Business Inc., the province’s development agency.

"Our strength is our educated workforce and we can’t afford to see it disappear."

The province’s Education Department has programs to address different skill and labour shortages, said the department’s Stuart Gourley.

"The skill-shortage question is the knowledge to do the job and the labour shortage is a question of who are we going to have in the province to put belly to the bench," he said.

Rarely did a week pass in the province this year where the phrase skill shortage wasn’t thrown around by one group or another.

Paul Pettipas, head of the Nova Scotia Home Builders’ Association, complained a shortage of drywallers, framers and bricklayers was lengthening the time it took to build homes and driving up costs.

Graham Conrad, executive director of the Automotive Trades Association of Atlantic Canada, said the province’s automotive repair and service shops are desperate for workers, estimating there are as many as 600 vacancies at the 1,200 repair and service shops.

Sobeys president Bill McEwan told a meeting of business leaders in Pictou that finding and keeping talent is the No. 1 issue for the food giant.

The Education Department says it’s addressing these challenges.

"From the perspective of skills shortage, we have an interesting little conundrum in the province because we have a lot of very skilled people who are a little bit of a mismatch for what is required in economy right now," Mr. Gourley said.

"So our programming is targeted at moving those people from the situation they are in now to what is needed in the economy as it develops over the next year or two."

On the labour side, there is a bigger issue than people leaving for Alberta, and that is an aging population, Mr. Gourley said.

"We have the second-highest median age in Canada. We have the fastest-

aging cohort in the workforce of any jurisdiction in Canada and we have an average worker that is at 47 years of age," he said.

"There are a lot of things stacked against us, so we are going to have to do some innovative things around how we deal with that."

Mr. Gourley said there are three ways to get people: giving birth, attracting immigrants or bringing people back to the province.

He said the focus has been somewhat on immigration, "but more importantly directed at those groups that haven’t been traditionally engaged in the labour market and those are primarily the disabled, the aboriginal community, our African-Nova Scotia community and so on," he said.

And there have been companies that have been doing their part to reverse the Alberta drain.

Focus Corp. does drafting and surveying work for Alberta oil firms, but they do it over the Internet from an office on a Truro street.

The Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Exporters and Manufacturers Association brought in speakers from Alberta who served up advice on how to service the red-hot western economy without leaving home.

Nova Scotia Business Inc. launched a campaign to encourage expatriates back to the province.

http://www.halifaxherald.com/Front/547993.html

[skyscraper_1]

And at the same time workers are being sucked out of the province,,,,we are experencing a mini-boom(in Nova Scotia terms atleast)

Making the pieces fit

For some businesses it was a year when all the pieces fell into place. For others, it must have seemed like the puzzle box had been knocked to the floor and the dog had eaten most of the pieces.

But if the overall economic health of the province is to be judged on the way the various business sectors and projects interconnect, the jigsaw picture that was 2006 offers a generally vibrant view.

The brightest parts of the scene may be the pieces that show world leaders such as Research in Motion and Butterfield Bank of Bermuda locating in Halifax and promising to create high-paying jobs. It didn’t fall into place overnight — the effort to bring the companies here had been going on behind the scene for months — but 2006 was the year they hit the table.

They made the puzzle bigger directly, and by providing Nova Scotians solid knowledge-economy jobs to lure them home from Alberta or Bermuda, they’ve been helping to repatriate economic opportunities pieces that have been missing for a number of years.

Also returning to the table after close to a year in limbo was a key piece of the puzzle — Stora Enso Port Hawkesbury. Northern Nova Scotia business operators from Antigonish to halfway up Cape Breton Island were tentative about their future for most of the year as they waited to see whether the papermaker could work out a new power-pricing deal with Nova Scotia Power and reopen the plant.

Aeronautics firm IMP and defence contractor L-3 Communications added multimillion-dollar-size pieces to the scene as they geared up for Aurora and other aircraft work during the year. Unfortunately, IMP chairman Ken Rowe took away an important part of the puzzle when he pulled the plug on his commercial airline venture, CanJet.

Some of the other bright spots in this year’s scene were harder to see, because the principals behind them like to stay in the background. Empire Co., Sobeys, Irving and firms controlled by Joe Shannon — the Shaw Group and the Joudrey Group — all continued to expand in 2006, quietly pouring millions into paycheques, taxes and the local services that make the economy go round.

Fishing and forestry, important background pieces that allow many rural areas to connect with the larger economy, struggled as they faced increasing global competition and higher transportation and fuel costs. Sales created through various trade missions helped ensure the manufacturing piece in the provincial economy didn’t shrink. Both power prices and home prices rose during 2006, while gas prices rose, sank and then were regulated.

Ironically it was a game-maker that created the biggest economic buzz this year. Kerry Martens of Vancouver played Headz Gamez with the people of Parrsboro when he promised 1,500 jobs with the construction of a board-game plant in the community, only to bail on the company late in the year, leaving little but broken dreams.

As in many puzzles and many years, there were odd pieces that didn’t seem to fit in anywhere. What were Nova Scotians to make of a plan to build a space station in Cape Breton? Will the federal Crown corporation serving Cape Breton be able to sell die-maker Cape Breton Castings to protect 75 jobs? Will it be able to recoup any of the $25 million sunk into it? Will the federal government’s surprise tax decision on income trusts shrink the size of some local trusts, such as Clearwater and Bell Aliant?

These are questions we may not be able to answer until next year, as we try to sort through the puzzling business of business in 2007.

For the next days we’ll be looking at some of these stories in greater detail, with the hope that by understanding the past we can help make a better future for everyone.

[crossroad]

Good article. Thanks.

As for labor shortage, does it also have to do with more people not wanting to work or work that much?

I thought tourism should be playing a bigger part, but didn't find so during some of my brief research of NS economy. Is this true?

[HaliGuy]

Originally Posted by crossroad

Good article. Thanks.

As for labor shortage, does it also have to do with more people not wanting to work or work that much?

I thought tourism should be playing a bigger part, but didn't find so during some of my brief research of NS economy. Is this true?

Yeah I don't know..it is 1.3 billion dollar year industry in Nova Scotia, but has really only become paid more attention in the last decade or so. I know they keep talking about a goal of making a 2 billion a year industry by 2010, but I don't think that is going to happen where tourism has been down slightly in the last few years during the summer month anyway.

[skyscraper_1]

Originally Posted by crossroad

Good article. Thanks.

As for labor shortage, does it also have to do with more people not wanting to work or work that much?

I thought tourism should be playing a bigger part, but didn't find so during some of my brief research of NS economy. Is this true?

The labour shortage is really three issues.

1. The Nova Scotian economy is going fairly well.
2. The population is aging quickly, meaning skilled trade people are retiring.
3. The younger generation are being lured out west to Alberta. I have a feeling that they will be back, but they will probably spend their most productive years out west.

[Penhorn]

Originally Posted by skyscraper_1

The labour shortage is really three issues.

1. The Nova Scotian economy is going fairly well.
2. The population is aging quickly, meaning skilled trade people are retiring.
3. The younger generation are being lured out west to Alberta. I have a feeling that they will be back, but they will probably spend their most productive years out west.

A couple weeks ago in the Herald I read that 20% of Nova Scotians are legally disabled. That probably doesn't help (highest rate in Canada).

[crossroad]

Originally Posted by Penhorn

A couple weeks ago in the Herald I read that 20% of Nova Scotians are legally disabled. That probably doesn't help (highest rate in Canada).

Oh man! But that probably have to do with our highest-age society.

[skyscraper_1]

Originally Posted by Penhorn

A couple weeks ago in the Herald I read that 20% of Nova Scotians are legally disabled. That probably doesn't help (highest rate in Canada).

That is a disturbing statistic!

[Beerliker]

This "labour shortage" is a big myth invented by the pro-immigration lobby as an excuse to bring in more immigrants. To see this, just look at the employment rate of recent graduates of the province's university and see which percentage of grads can find work in their field. Less than half of comp-sci graduates can even find programmign work, the rest have to go into semi-technical "tech support" jobs and such. There are too many skilled workers, and not enough jobs for them all. Not the other way around.

[Penhorn]

Originally Posted by Beerliker

This "labour shortage" is a big myth invented by the pro-immigration lobby as an excuse to bring in more immigrants. To see this, just look at the employment rate of recent graduates of the province's university and see which percentage of grads can find work in their field. Less than half of comp-sci graduates can even find programmign work, the rest have to go into semi-technical "tech support" jobs and such. There are too many skilled workers, and not enough jobs for them all. Not the other way around.

"Pro-immigration lobby"? I assume you're against immigration, then?

[HaliGuy]

Originally Posted by Beerliker

This "labour shortage" is a big myth invented by the pro-immigration lobby as an excuse to bring in more immigrants. To see this, just look at the employment rate of recent graduates of the province's university and see which percentage of grads can find work in their field. Less than half of comp-sci graduates can even find programmign work, the rest have to go into semi-technical "tech support" jobs and such. There are too many skilled workers, and not enough jobs for them all. Not the other way around.

Oh come on

[bluenoser]

How many graduates actively seek technical jobs here, vs how many look for them in Ontario where they came from in the first place?

[crossroad]

Originally Posted by bluenoser

How many graduates actively seek technical jobs here, vs how many look for them in Ontario where they came from in the first place?

I see your point and I don't disagree. But we can't overlook the fact that TO or Vancouver with top schools do recruit out of province students and are able to retain more of these students, than HRM is able to. We at HRM are a much smaller job market with lower average wage and salaries. It helps us not to measure ourselves up with PEI or other Eastern provinces (not that these provinces are not attractive). We can only grow better by aspiring higher.

[crossroad]

Originally Posted by Beerliker

This "labour shortage" is a big myth invented by the pro-immigration lobby as an excuse to bring in more immigrants. To see this, just look at the employment rate of recent graduates of the province's university and see which percentage of grads can find work in their field. Less than half of comp-sci graduates can even find programmign work, the rest have to go into semi-technical "tech support" jobs and such. There are too many skilled workers, and not enough jobs for them all. Not the other way around.

Do you have any resources/quotations to back yourself up? I might move to HRM, but if what you said is true, I might think twice because: 1. I don't want to take over another Canadian's job; 2. I don't want to end up being jobless either.

[Haligonian]

But we can't overlook the fact that TO or Vancouver with top schools do recruit out of province students and are able to retain more of these students, than HRM is able to. We at HRM are a much smaller job market with lower average wage and salaries.

This is at least partly false. Neither Toronto nor Vancouver universities attract more out of province students. I don't know what the story is when it comes to retaining students, but salaries in Vancouver don't tend to be much higher than here and the cost of living is dramatically higher.

I agree with Beerliker when it comes to the skilled labour issue. Everybody wants to have a high-paying white collar job, and the economy just doesn't work that way. I think there is a labour shortage, but only in the sense that it is hard to find people to work at very low-paying jobs such as jobs in retail.

I'm in the CS field myself and I haven't really had problems. CS departments are actually seeing declining enrollments so I don't think the job situation in the field is really that bad. Another issue with CS is that many people who graduate still aren't very good at it, and yet they presumably think that their degree will be the ticket for a great job. In the past, people thought that they could take some kind of one year course in HTML and web page authoring and that it would entitle them to make $80,000 a year or something.

[Haligonian]

As for the "job stealing" issue, that view of immigration makes very little sense. Jobs are not magical things that fall from the sky in predetermined numbers. They are created by growing businesses, and in fact people can create their own jobs by starting a new business. Many immigrants come and start new businesses that provide services that would not otherwise be available and are therefore quite successful. On top of that, they grow the demand for products that other people can provide. It is much more complicated than a city just having a job creation figure of X, immigration of Y, and X - Y jobs available for locals.

[Jonestowncultinpicto]

Originally Posted by Haligonian

As for the "job stealing" issue, that view of immigration makes very little sense. Jobs are not magical things that fall from the sky in predetermined numbers. They are created by growing businesses, and in fact people can create their own jobs by starting a new business. Many immigrants come and start new businesses that provide services that would not otherwise be available and are therefore quite successful. On top of that, they grow the demand for products that other people can provide. It is much more complicated than a city just having a job creation figure of X, immigration of Y, and X - Y jobs available for locals.

Immigration is most of your entrepreneur class in HRM and to a lesser extent in the province as a whole. Successions are few in Metro but not totally unheard of. Cleves is the exception I can think of from the HRM.

Immigration from europe and asia especially usually has entrepreneurs that continue business thru family succession. As much as you will have university students coming in and out of the region for education you also have that with rural nova scotians as well going back to the family business with higher education .

Immigrates are very welcome in this province and really are the backbone of change.

[crossroad]

Originally Posted by Haligonian

But we can't overlook the fact that TO or Vancouver with top schools do recruit out of province students and are able to retain more of these students, than HRM is able to. We at HRM are a much smaller job market with lower average wage and salaries.

This is at least partly false. Neither Toronto nor Vancouver universities attract more out of province students. I don't know what the story is when it comes to retaining students, but salaries in Vancouver don't tend to be much higher than here and the cost of living is dramatically higher.

I agree with Beerliker when it comes to the skilled labour issue. Everybody wants to have a high-paying white collar job, and the economy just doesn't work that way. I think there is a labour shortage, but only in the sense that it is hard to find people to work at very low-paying jobs such as jobs in retail.

I'm in the CS field myself and I haven't really had problems. CS departments are actually seeing declining enrollments so I don't think the job situation in the field is really that bad. Another issue with CS is that many people who graduate still aren't very good at it, and yet they presumably think that their degree will be the ticket for a great job. In the past, people thought that they could take some kind of one year course in HTML and web page authoring and that it would entitle them to make $80,000 a year or something.

I found some previous research I did.. For two professions:

Sales Analyst II

Median Pct higher than HFX
Halifax $57,259 n/a
Canada $60,595 6%
Toronto $67,667 18%
Calgary $62,683 9%


Electrical Engineer I

Median Pct higher than HFX
Halifax $51,318
Canada $54,308 6%
Toronto $60,646 18%
Calgary $56,179 9%

ON average, Halifax is paying 6% lower than Canada national average, according to monster.ca. I really tried to find cost-of-living adjustment online, but only US data were available. Can anyone help? But being 6% lower than Canada national average is no small gap! TO is paying 18% more but it's cost of living is higher than Halifax. However, bigger cities offer more amenities and convenience than smaller ones.

[ssiguy2]

You are FAR better off having a lower salary in a less expensive city.
A small dump of a place with 1200 sq feet and no basement in Vancouver STARTS at $450,000. One bedroom condos START at $200,000.
In other words take the price of your house in Halifax and at a MINIMUM, triple it. Is that putting things into perspective??
Also remember that the more you make to aleviate the difference {which in Vancouver's place would be an additional $20K}, you also begin to increase in tax brackets substaintially.
Your little $50k in Vancouver wouldn't even get you into a one bedroom apt.

[Reddog794]

The difference is the cost of living, on par people in both provinces have equal spending cash, in pocket at the end of the day, beyond rent, food, amenities, and so on and so on.