Great commentary in the Daily Gleaner a few days ago on the GPS expertise at UNB. The university has been a leader in GPS research for years. I’ve written about this as well but my concern has been why we…
Continue ReadingLamenting the loss of The Bay? Nah
“Well, I guess that’s the way it goes… one out and one in.” Rick – Casablanca (1942) Reading of the closure of The Bay in Moncton yesterday I was reminded by how much churn there is in any local…
Continue ReadingWe need bold and ambitious business leaders to invest in our province
This is the title of my column in the Telegraph-Journal this morning. I trace history back to the 1940s with an interesting quote suggesting that NB business people (with some notable exceptions) were not particularly ambitious even back then. My…
Continue ReadingIs a university degree as important as it used to be?
I recently took a look at the increase in university-educated population and tried to see the correlation with income levels. I am grumpy with some U.S. economists who seem to infer that university education will solve the problem of unemployment…
Continue ReadingTrust in government
I like David Brook’s piece on government and trust this morning. I have been talking here about a similar but very related phenomenon. New Brunswickers are far more reliant on government that at any time in the past –…
Continue ReadingIt’s the economy, stupid: traffic count
I got my stats for this blog over 2010 last week. There is some interesting data. The blog received 38,472 visits over the year of which there was a bit of an upward trend after I starting writing for the…
Continue ReadingA good end to the year for employment in Moncton
The latest data on employment by metro area shows good news for Moncton. Comparing December 2010 to December 2011, total employment in the Moncton CMA is up nearly 5 percent – among the top quartile results in Canada – faster…
Continue ReadingThis is our hill and these are our beans: reflections on culture
“It’s a topsy-turvy world, and maybe the problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans. But this is our hill. And these are our beans!” – Frank Drebin -The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!…
Continue ReadingA wacky year for the labour market
It was a bit of a wacky labour market picture for NB over the year. The year end data is out (a good report here) and it’s not what I would have predicted. There was virtually no growth in total…
Continue ReadingEmployment situation in NB is grim – particularly among the young
A long time commentator on this blog, Richard, thinks a few good charts are needed to tell the economic story of NB. To oblige, have a look at the following two charts. The first shows total employment growth in New…
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