Labour

Halifax added 11,900 new jobs in 2021, bringing the total number of employed individuals to 239,300. Of those employed, 85.8% (205,200) were in the services-producing sector and 14.2% (34,100) were in the goods-producing sector. Total employment in Halifax was up 5.2% in 2021, the second-largest increase across benchmark cities. Halifax was also one of only two benchmark cities that experienced an annual positive change in both the goods-producing (+10.0%) and services-producing (+4.5%) sectors.

The construction industry moved up one position to become the fifth-largest industry (18,700 jobs) in Halifax. Employment growth in the construction industry is welcome news as the city attempts to address housing-supply concerns. Wholesale and retail trade remained the largest industry (36,500 jobs). Industries that are largely in the public sector – health care and social assistance, educational services, and public administration – ranked second, fourth, and sixth, respectively, and collectively accounted for 30.2% of Halifax’s total employment in 2021.

Over the past decade, professional, scientific, and technical services had the largest growth (+59.9%) followed by the construction industry (+33.6%).

The largest declines were observed in “other service” (except public administration) and information, culture, and recreation, which fell by 29.8% and 24.1%, respectively. The accommodation and food services industry, one of the industries most adversely affected by COVID-19, showed a 10-year decline of 8.1%; however, the entirety of this decline was experienced in the last two years alone. There are signs of a turn-around in the industry with 0.7% growth between 2020 and 2021.

With most COVID-related job losses now regained, labour shortages are again a growing issue. Between Q1 2020 and Q4 2021, job vacancies specifically in the sales and services occupations jumped by 60.8% (+1,395 positions). Across all occupations, vacancies increased by 4,400 positions over the same period.

The most common occupational code for Halifax workers in 2021 was computer and information systems professionals. This reflects both Halifax’s burgeoning tech sector and the general trend across all industries to integrate more technology into production and sales processes. Other common occupations were in the retail sector and health care workers.

Halifax’s job vacancy rate climbed to record highs through the second half of 2021, hitting 4.7% in the fourth quarter. The city added roughly 1,000 new jobs in every quarter of 2021. The total number of job vacancies at the end of the year was 10,430 – the highest since recordkeeping began in 2015 and a 53.8% increase over 2020.

The growing number of job vacancies is not simply a function of too few workers being available. Difficulties in filling vacant positions also may be due to skill mismatches, where the skills required by businesses do not meet the skills of job-seeking individuals, and lingering pandemic-induced hesitancy for workers to get back into certain industries where in-person contact is necessary (35.4% of all job vacancies in Q4 2021 were in sales and service occupations). The Partnership’s most recent annual business survey revealed that 29.2% of businesses experienced “a great deal of difficulty” in filling vacant positions in 2022, and 33.1% experienced “some difficulty.” Although high, the share of businesses who faced difficulties in 2022 was 2.8 percentage points lower than in 2021.

Despite widespread reports of the “the great resignation,” there is some evidence that employee retention remains strong in Halifax.

In the Partnership’s business survey, the share of respondents citing a “zero-percent” annual turnover rate increased 17.2 percentage points since 2019, up to 50.2%. The share of surveyed businesses reporting a turnover rate of “more than one percent, up to five percent” decreased 5.5 percentage points over the same period to reach 11.5%. However, the share of businesses reporting a turnover rate of “twenty-five percent or more” increased to 12.5%, up from 11.0% in 2019.

Although today’s younger workers may place more of a premium on workplace culture over wages, compensation may become increasingly important to employee retention given the speed with which the cost of living is increasing. Among surveyed Halifax businesses, 33.2% increased employee salaries by 5% or more in 2021, and 34.6% expect similar increases in 2022. On the other hand, 5.2% of businesses decreased salaries by 5% or more in 2021. 34.1% of businesses reported salaries remaining unchanged in 2021, and 30.1% expect the same over 2022.

Remote work has never been more in the spotlight than during the pandemic. Beyond reducing the spread of the virus, remote work has been advantageous for some in terms of increased flexibility and productivity, reduced costs and time for commuting, and lower levels of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. That said, a shift to working from home has potentially profound implications for businesses and workers in sectors like corporate real estate; transportation, office maintenance and cleaning; and restaurants, cafes, and bars.

Halifax Partnership’s City Matters Survey 2022, carried out by MQO Research, asked respondents if their employer provided opportunities to work remotely in the last 2 years. 60.5% of employed respondents replied “yes,” 25.2% replied “no,” and 14.0% said remote work was “not applicable” to their employment. For instance, most occupations in the services sector cannot be undertaken remotely. Comparatively, the Partnership’s Business Confidence Survey 2022, carried out by Narrative Research, asked businesses if their employees transitioned to working remotely during the pandemic. 38.0% said “yes” and 58% responded “no.” The remaining 4% said that remote work did not apply to them.

The future of remote work seems to be strong with 67.9% of employees saying it was important that their employers offer remote working opportunities coming out of the pandemic and 67.1% of businesses intending to keep offering remote work after the pandemic.

The two surveys also asked about employee and employer perspectives on changes in productivity as a result of remote working arrangements. The similar response scales for the two questions made it possible to compare productivity perceptions and measures between employees and employers. The most common response was “no change.” Among employees, 38.2% believed that remote work had no change on their productivity and 47.6% of businesses felt the same way. Just over one-fifth (21.6%) of employees believed their productivity had significantly increased, but only 6.6% of businesses perceived significant increases in productivity. At the other end of the scale, 9.5% of businesses said that productivity significantly decreased compared with only 2.4% of employees.

Although slightly higher in 2021 because more workers came back to the workplace after pandemic closures the previous year, Nova Scotia’s injury rate of 1.58 per 100 workers continued a long-term improvement trend and reflected the strong focus on injury prevention. This rate is 3.3% above 2020 but down more than 9% from 2016.

In 2021, there were 73 cases of a worker contracting COVID-19 during the course of their work and missing time, up 28 cases from 2020. The majority of these cases (35) were in the health and social services sectors with 17 at hospitals, 11 at disability support homes, and 7 at other locations in the sector.