Industries/Occupations

Industries

While overall the province had a decrease in both full-time and part-time jobs, the service sector gained 1,700 (+0.6%) full-time jobs and lost 4,400 (-4.9%) part-time jobs. Conversely, the goods sector lost 2,900 (-3.6%) full-time jobs and gained 100 (+1.7%) part-time jobs. Nova Scotia’s goods-producing sector accounted for 18.8% of provincial employment in 2014 compared to 19.2% in 2013. All industries in the goods-producing sector experienced employment declines in 2014 compared to 2013. The biggest proportionate job losses were in the Utilities and Agriculture sectors, which lost 400 (9.5%) and 500 (8.8%) jobs respectively in 2014 compared to 2013. The unemployment rate continues to be high in goods-producing industries, particularly in the Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas industry, where the rate was 22.8% in 2014. Though employment declined in the services-producing sector, five out of 10 industries experienced employment growth. Significant employment growth was in the Transportation and warehousing and Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing industries, which together gained 2,600 jobs in 2014 compared to 2013. While employment in the Business, building and other support services industry had the highest gain (15.8%) by a single industry in 2013, compared to 2012, its employment declined by 13.6% in 2014 compared to 2013. The highest unemployment rate (9.9%) in the services-producing sector was in the Accommodation and food services industry.

Occupations

In 2014, five out of ten occupational groups had increased employment; overall employment decreased by 1.1% from 2013. Occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport experienced the largest decrease (-12.0%). Natural and applied sciences and related occupations had the largest employment increase (+7.1%). Sales and service occupations continued to employ the largest number of people and accounted for 26% of overall employment. Occupations unique to primary industry had the largest unemployment rate (23.6%) of all occupational groups in 2014. Management occupations had the lowest unemployment rate (+1.9%). The overall unemployment rate in Nova Scotia was 9.0%. The highest median hourly wage in 2014 was in management occupations ($34.62) while the lowest was in sales and service occupations ($12.35).

Goods-Producing Sector Trends

Data in the graphs below is indexed to the year 2007 (pre-recession period) to show trends and to compare with the Canadian economy. Between 2008 and 2013, employment in Nova Scotia’s good-producing sector has been decreasing at a slower pace than the goods-producing sector at the national level. However, employment in the goods-producing sector at the national level has been experiencing a rebound since 2010 while it has continued to decline in Nova Scotia.

Service-Producing Sector Trends

Employment in the service-producing sector has been increasing at national and provincial levels though growth has been faster nationally. After peaking in 2012, relative to 2007, employment growth in Nova Scotia’s service-producing sector has been on a downward trend in the last two years. However, employment in Nova Scotia’s service-producing sector was 1.2% higher in 2014 compared to 2007.