The Big Atlantic Canada Statistics Thread

[mmmatt]

Hotel nights sold stats are in for NB for last year, I again had to get this via email from the tourism dept. however they said next year it will be available again in the annual report



See below for the change in nights sold over the last year and the last 10 years.

Awesome to see everyone had a good 2016 on the positive side!

[MonctonRad]

Good stuff mmmatt.

I came across an article the other month (I unfortunately forget the source) which surprisingly stated that the tourism industry in southeastern NB actually generates more income on a yearly basis than PEI does!!!

The difference is that PEI generates most of it's business in a 16 week window in the summertime, while the industry in southeastern NB is more of a year round business...........

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Good stuff mmmatt.

I came across an article the other month (I unfortunately forget the source) which surprisingly stated that the tourism industry in southeastern NB actually generates more income on a yearly basis than PEI does!!!

The difference is that PEI generates most of it's business in a 16 week window in the summertime, while the industry in southeastern NB is more of a year round business...........

Neat! If you think about it though it makes sense, as you said there is more going on around SE NB during the winter, such as casino, shopping, shows, conventions and sports tournaments...plus outdoor draws such as skiing and snowmobiling which are bigger in NB from what I can tell. Not to say that some of that isn't going on in PEI as well but why pay an extra 45$ when you can stop in SE NB.

[L'homard]

In the off season Moncton hosts almost weekly sports tournaments, mostly geared for student-aged participants. This entails bringing along at least one parent and often entire families for a weekend getaway involving the tournament, shopping, etc....
This is all by design of the late Ian Fowler, who was so far ahead of his time it isn't even funny.

[Delusio Cogno]

The jobless rates last month in Moncton 6.1% and Saint John 5.6% were less than:

St. John's, N.L. 8.5 %
Halifax 7.0
Calgary 9.3
Edmonton 7.9
Saguenay, Que. 6.8
Sherbrooke, Que. 6.2
Trois-Rivieres, Que. 6.5
Montreal 6.6
Peterborough, Ont. 6.7
Toronto 6.9
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 6.9
London, Ont. 6.2
Sudbury, Ont. 6.6
Saskatoon 8.3

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/labour-ma...surge-of-77-000-full-time-jobs-1.3450826

[MonctonRad]

Good stuff - I think i'll repost this in the Canada section (giving you appropriate credit).

[JHikka]

Looking at unemployment rates on a month-by-month basis is mostly useless. NB has a declining employment pool due to the aging-out of much of its workforce which will naturally drive down unemployment numbers. When combined with youth outmigration you're essentially left with an unemployment rate artificially lower than what's seen in actual economic reality.

NEW BRUNSWICK, TOTAL EMPLOYED, ALL INDUSTRIES (IN THOUSANDS):
MAY 2005: 349.1
MAY 2007: 355.9
MAY 2009: 360.1
MAY 2011: 353.4
MAY 2013: 355.3
MAY 2015: 351.9
MAY 2017: 352.3

NEW BRUNSWICK, PARTICIPATION RATE (PERCENT), TOTAL:
MAY 2005: 63.5%
MAY 2007: 63.5%
MAY 2009: 64.3%
MAY 2011: 63.0%
MAY 2013: 63.6%
MAY 2015: 62.5%
MAY 2017: 61.6%

CANSIM 282-0087

[MonctonRad]

A fair point, but this doesn't take away from the fact that now is a good time to be young and looking for a job in the larger Maritime cities. The provincial governments should really be using the decreasing unemployment rates as a carrot to lure ex-Maritimers back home. After all, we'll need workers to generate the taxes to support all those old people in nursing homes.......

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

A fair point, but this doesn't take away from the fact that now is a good time to be young and looking for a job in the larger Maritime cities. The provincial governments should really be using the decreasing unemployment rates as a carrot to lure ex-Maritimers back home. After all, we'll need workers to generate the taxes to support all those old people in nursing homes.......

Immigration's probably a better idea in the long-term.

I don't disagree that things are better today in NB's major cities compared to 20 or maybe 10 years ago, but these positive unemployment numbers are being masked by a more worrisome employment trend: Boomers are retiring and there isn't enough of a workforce to supplant them when they retire. Boomers and their mismanagement of the province's economy have effectively sealed their own fate by creating a working economy which was unwelcome to their own children. This isn't simply an NB trend but is certainly obvious when you look around.

[Delusio Cogno]

How will we tax the robots? ������

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Delusio Cogno

How will we tax the robots? ������

I know you're being facetious but a serious answer to this will be: don't. Taxing automation generally stifles technological and R&D development. New Brunswick in particular is actually becoming quite the little hub for IT startups.

As this article points out, as more of the workforce is deemed surplus by automation the more that we should be looking at wage subsidies for low-earners, redistributing capital income more broadly, or increasing value-added taxes.

[Delusio Cogno]

Originally Posted by JHikka

as more of the workforce is deemed surplus by automation the more that we should be looking at wage subsidies for low-earners, redistributing capital income more broadly, or increasing value-added taxes.

Our consumer-based economy is going to need to the robots to give the humans money to buy the robots' goods?

What motivation is there for the owners to share the wealth? Maybe they will get a philanthropy award for doing so.

Meaningful activity is needed to keep the common people happy. Automation is coming, unemployment will go up, and just adding people to the dole is not going to help anyone feel like they are contributing.

[MonctonRad]

This website lists the top 25 CMAs/CAs for immigration for last year (2016).

http://canadaimmigrants.com/canada-immigrants-by-metropolitan-area-2016/

There are five Atlantic Canadian cities on the list:

#10 - Halifax (4,570)
#18 - Charlottetown (2,095)
#19 - Fredericton (1,490)
#21 - Moncton (1,390)
#23 - Saint John (1,235)

Two notes:

1) - For it's size, Charlottetown blows everyone else out of the water!!!
2) - Where's St. John's?????

[Monctoncore]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This website lists the top 25 CMAs/CAs for immigration for last year (2016).

http://canadaimmigrants.com/canada-immigrants-by-metropolitan-area-2016/

There are five Atlantic Canadian cities on the list:

#10 - Halifax (4,570)
#18 - Charlottetown (2,095)
#19 - Fredericton (1,490)
#21 - Moncton (1,390)
#23 - Saint John (1,235)

Two notes:

1) - For it's size, Charlottetown blows everyone else out of the water!!!
2) - Where's St. John's?????

It surprises me Moncton isn't doing better than that..

[MonctonRad]

Statistics Canada has released linguistic statistics from the most recent (2016) census:

French as First Language:

New Brunswick
2016 - 232,950 (31.6%)
2011 - 235,695 (31.9%), a loss of 2,745 native born French speakers and a 0.3% loss in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

Nova Scotia
2016 - 29,320 (3.2%)
2011 - 30,330 (3.3%), a loss of 1,010 native born French speakers and a 0.1% loss in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

Prince Edward Island
2016 - 4,660 (3.3%)
2011 - 4,810 (3.5%), a loss of 150 native born French speakers and a 0.2% loss in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

Newfoundland & Labrador
2016 - 2,430 (0.5%)
2011 - 2,095 (0.4%), a gain of 335 native born French speakers and a 0.1% gain in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

and, by comparison:

Quebec English language first speakers
2016 - 774,390 (9.6%)
2011 - 700,405 (9.0%), a gain of 73,985 native born English speakers and a 0.6% gain in the proportion of English speakers in the overall population.

The Quebec statistics are quite a surprise really..........

[Sunnybrae]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Statistics Canada has released linguistic statistics from the most recent (2016) census:

French as First Language:

New Brunswick
2016 - 232,950 (31.6%)
2011 - 235,695 (31.9%), a loss of 2,745 native born French speakers and a 0.3% loss in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

Nova Scotia
2016 - 29,320 (3.2%)
2011 - 30,330 (3.3%), a loss of 1,010 native born French speakers and a 0.1% loss in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

Prince Edward Island
2016 - 4,660 (3.3%)
2011 - 4,810 (3.5%), a loss of 150 native born French speakers and a 0.2% loss in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

Newfoundland & Labrador
2016 - 2,430 (0.5%)
2011 - 2,095 (0.4%), a gain of 335 native born French speakers and a 0.1% gain in the proportion of French speakers in the overall population.

and, by comparison:

Quebec English language first speakers
2016 - 774,390 (9.6%)
2011 - 700,405 (9.0%), a gain of 73,985 native born English speakers and a 0.6% gain in the proportion of English speakers in the overall population.

The Quebec statistics are quite a surprise really..........

I was listening to the radio this morning about some of these stats. It was interesting that they were trying to do the same thing I was but it wasn't clear as to what percentage of english speaking were bilingual. I'm surprised that the stat was not presented in the information. Maybe someone smarter than I can figure it out.

[MonctonRad]

There are three types of lies - lies, damned lies and statistics.........

You can take any set of information and present it in any way that you want, especially if you can make it fit with your own particular agenda. As such, you have to take any article or opinion piece (including my own) with a grain of salt.

In other words, what the author may be saying is probably truthful, but does not tell the complete story. Not only are there fewer French as a first language people in NB, there are also fewer English as a first language people in NB as well. There has been a big growth rate in third language speakers in the province. Arabic is now the third most spoken language in NB..........

[JHikka]

Essentially, bilingualism numbers are up nationally because more francophones are learning English (primarily in Quebec) whereas the proportion of Anglophones learning French stagnated or declined. In NB, Francophone as a mother tongue has declined (and has been for a few decades now). This decline is largely being seen in rural NB, with french as a first language in the urban centres (primarily Moncton & Dieppe) holding steady. I won't have the numbers posted for a few weeks but Northumberland County saw about a 3% swing towards English mother tongue at the expense of French as the rural areas empty out. A similar swing has been ongoing in Kent County and non-Moncton Westmorland County for the past few census cycles. As Moncton sprawls the use of English as a first language spreads into both Anglo and Franco areas.

Media are always going to report the Bilingualism is Up! story over the Francophone is Down! story for the sake of receiving fewer angry phonecalls and ruffling fewer feathers. It's a red herring but it is what it is.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Media are always going to report the Bilingualism is Up! story over the Francophone is Down! story for the sake of receiving fewer angry phonecalls and ruffling fewer feathers. It's a red herring but it is what it is.

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You can take any set of information and present it in any way that you want, especially if you can make it fit with your own particular agenda. As such, you have to take any article or opinion piece (including my own) with a grain of salt.

As I said, you can manipulate statistics in many ways to suit your own agenda. You're quite right about the mainstream media and how they're presenting this data. It'll be interesting to see what the SAANB has to say on this matter further down the road...........

[MonctonRad]

Current Unemployment Rates (July 2017)

NB 6.5% (8.1% in June)
NS 7.9% (8.8% in June)
PE 10.0% (10.2% in June)
NL 15.7% (14.7% in June)

On further review of the statistics, it becomes clear that no miracle has occurred in NB. While employment in the Picture Province is certainly up (a little), the vast majority of the decrease in the unemployment rate is due to a contraction in the labour force (people giving up on looking for work perhaps)..........

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/170804/t003a-eng.htm

In any event, at present NB has an unemployment rate of 6.5% and Alberta has an unemployment rate of 7.8%. Pretty soon Alberta will be looking for equalization payments from us!!!