Nova Scotia is Canada’s economic laggard—study

Non-residential investment in the province continues to fall, but construction sector is enjoying the fruits of accelerated pace of residential building

Nova Scotia is Canada’s economic laggard—study
In its latest outlook, RBC Economics stated that Nova Scotia continues to lag behind the rest of Canada in terms of economic growth for the first half of 2017.

The provincial economy is expected to grow by 1.3 per cent by the end of this year, and employment growth numbers are projected to reach their highest since 2012, but the “impact of job gains on retail sales and wider economic activity will be muted by a rising share of part-time workers and still sluggish growth in employee compensation,” according to the bank’s report, as quoted by The Chronicle Herald.

The RBC study added that non-residential investment in Nova Scotia continued to experience declines, although the construction segment is reaping a windfall from a heightened pace of residential building.

RBC Economics noted that much of the growth for the first two quarters of the year was attributable to gains in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island. As a whole, the Canadian economy is on course for GDP growth of 3.1 per cent for 2017, a trend impelled by consumer and government spending as well as by business investment.

“Canada’s economy continues to hit it out of the park,” RBC chief economist and senior vice-president Craig Wright said. “For the fourth consecutive quarter, we’ve seen above-potential growth, and despite the cooling of the housing market and uncertainly around NAFTA, we expect the momentum to carry through to the end of the year.”


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