Nova Scotia Labour Force Survey : Annual Highlights

Labour Force Survey, 2022: Nova Scotia Annual Highlights

Nova Scotia’s labour market continued its positive momentum in 2022, continuing the recovery witnessed in 2021. The average employment level in 2022 was 15,600 jobs higher than the previous year and the average unemployment rate in 2022 was the lowest of any year since the beginning of the modern Labour Force Survey. However, part-time and youth employment has yet to recover to pre-COVID levels.

Nova Scotia's Labour Market Trends 2018-2022

Titled Labour Force Trends 2018-2022. The image shows five vertical bars from left to right covering 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Each bar is segmented into sections with dark blue = full-time employment, medium blue = part-time employment, and light blue = unemployment. Two trend lines span the chart with dark blue = labour force and light blue = employment.

  • The labour force expanded by 1.2% in 2022 in Nova Scotia (6,200 persons), following a rebound in 2021 of +3.8%. From 2018 to 2022, the labour force increased by 4.9%, despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
  • Nova Scotia’s employment level increased for the second straight year in 2022. 15,600 jobs were added (+3.4%) compared with 2021. These gains were due to increases in full-time jobs (+20,900 jobs, +5.6%).
  • The part-time employment level, however, fell in 2022 compared to the prior year. 5,300 part-time jobs were lost (-6.0%), and the number of part-time jobs remained short of pre-pandemic levels. This includes individuals switching between part-time and full-time job status.

Labour Market Indicators, Nova Scotia, 2018-2022

Titled Labour Market indicators %, 2018-2022. The chart has three sections: left to right are the unemployment rate, participation rate, and employment rate. Each section has five vertical bars in shades of blue moving from darkest to lightest from 2018 to 2022 with a bar representing each year.

 

  • The average unemployment rate in Nova Scotia in 2022 was 6.5%, the lowest of any year in the the history of the modern Labour Force Survey.
  • The participation rate (number of Nova Scotians aged 15 and up participating in the labour market) decreased by 0.6 percentage points in 2022 to 61.0%, and remained 0.8 percentage points short of the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
  • Nova Scotia’s employment rate increased for the second year in a row in 2022, as the effects of the decrease in unemployment outweighed the drop in the participation rate. The employment rate rose 0.6 percentage points to 57.0%, but remained 0.2 percentage points short of the 2019 figure.

Employment Change by Selected Demographics, Nova Scotia, 2021-2022

  • Nova Scotia’s employment recovery following the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has been unevenly distributed across demographic groups and industries.
    • The youth (aged 15-24) employment level increased by 1.4% (+900 jobs) in 2022, compared to gain of 3.4% among the entire provincial labour force aged 15 and up.
    • Nova Scotia men gained more jobs than women in 2022 (+8,700 jobs, +3.7%; versus +6,900 jobs, +3.0%). Both genders lost part-time jobs, but this was more pronounced for women (-4,400 jobs, -7.7%) than men (-1,000 jobs, -3.3%).
    • The industries with the largest employment gains in 2022 were “construction” (+4,500 jobs, +12.6%), “health care and social assistance (+4,000 jobs, +5.4%), and “professional, scientific and technical services” (+3,700 jobs, +10.6%). “Transportation and warehousing” posted the largest job losses of any industry (-2,400 jobs, -9.9%).

Titled Employment change by selected demographics, 2021-2022. The vertical axis runs from bottom to top in increments of 5,000 starting with -10,000 and finishing with 20,000. The horizontal axis has blue vertical bars for fulltime/partime males, fulltime/parttime females, fulltime/parttime 15-24 years, fulltime/partime 25-54 years, and fulltime/parttime 55 and over. A total of 10 vertical bars showing total employment change positive or negative around the horizontal axis.

Employment Change and Labour Market Indicators By Economic Region, 2022

Titled Employment change by economic region, 2021-2022. The left hand vertical axis runs from bottom to top in increments of 2,000 starting with -4,000 and finishing with 12,000 indicating total employment change. The right hand axis runs from bottom to top in increments of 2% starting with -6.0% and finishing with 10.0% indicating employment percentage change. The horizontal axis shows vertical bars from left to right indicating Cape Breton, North Shore, Annapolis Valley, Southern, and Halifax.

  • The Halifax region accounts for just over half of the provincial labour force. Nearly two-thirds of jobs gained in 2022 were in this region (+10,200 jobs, +4.3%).
  • By percentage increases, the Annapolis Valley region led the province with an employment gain of 8.4% (+4,800 jobs), followed by the Cape Breton region at 7.0% (+3,400 jobs). The North Shore was the only economic region to register a decrease in jobs over 2022      (-2,900 jobs, -4.2%).

Titled Labour market indicators % by economic region, 2022. The vertical axis shows three sections: employment rate, participation rate, and unemployment rate. Each section has five horizontal bars representing the regions with colours running from light blue at the top to dark blue at the bottom. Regions run from top to bottom for each section in order Halifax, Southern, Annapolis valley, North Shore, Cape Breton.

  • The Halifax region posted the highest employment (63.4%) and participation (66.7%) rates of any economic region in the province in 2022.
  • The Annapolis Valley economic region recorded the lowest average unemployment rate of any region in 2022 at 4.9%.
  • The Cape Breton region had the lowest employment (47.1%) and participation (53.3%) rates of any economic region. While the Cape Breton region continued its historical trend of having a considerably higher unemployment rate than the rest of the province in 2022 at 11.6%, this is the lowest unemployment rate recorded in the region in the available data dating back to 2006.

Labour Force Survey Glossary

Employment: Employed persons are those who, during the reference week, did any work for pay or profit or had a job and were absent from work.

Employment rate (employment/population ratio): Number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over. The employment rate for a particular group (for example, one defined by age, sex, marital status, or province) is the number employed in that group expressed as a percentage of the population for that group.

Labour force: Civilian non-institutional population 15 years of age and over who, during the survey reference week, were employed or unemployed. Prior to 1966, persons aged 14 and over were covered by the survey.

Participation rate: Total labour force expressed as a percentage of the population aged 15 years and over. The participation rate for a particular group (for example, women aged 25 years and over) is the labour force of that group expressed as a percentage of the population for that group.

Unemployment: Unemployed persons are those who, during reference week, were without work, were available for work and were either on temporary layoff, had looked for work in the past four weeks or had a job to start within the next four weeks.

Unemployment rate: Number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force. The unemployment rate for a particular group (for example, one defined by age, sex, or marital status) is the number of unemployed persons in that group expressed as a percentage of the labour force for that same group.

Source: Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey Guide