I have pointed out before that the federal government was a significant source of employment growth in New Brunswick over the past decade. They cut hard in the 1990s and then added back almost 2,000 high paying jobs from 2000 to 2011 – a growth rate of 25%. Now they are cutting and cutting hard. We know about the ACOA cuts and the cuts in Shediac. Now DFAIT is gone. They are closing the NB, PEI, NF offices and consolidating in Halifax with no additional staff. The Immigration office in Moncton is being consolidated in Fredericton even though the region will need thousands of immigrants over the next 20 years.
DFO cuts haven’t been announced yet but they are coming and will hit hard as well.
The National Research Council (NRC) is expected to cut back its New Brunswick operations. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is cutting its Regional Partnership Program, which is the main federal source of funding for health research in New Brunswick.
What bugs the people I talk to about this is the seemingly indiscriminate nature of the cuts. If the feds didn’t need the hundreds of employees in NB they are now cutting, why did they put them there in the first place?
I guess it is somewhat inevitable that all these things hit at once – fed transfers flatlined, hundreds of jobs removed, provincial austerity – at a time when the private sector economy is weak.
Federal government public administration employment across Canada
| 2000 | 2011 | % Change | |
| Canada | 240,907 | 300,697 | 25% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 6,096 | 5,628 | -8% |
| Prince Edward Island | 2,354 | 3,346 | 42% |
| Nova Scotia | 11,222 | 12,702 | 13% |
| New Brunswick | 7,643 | 9,517 | 25% |
| Quebec | 48,174 | 58,745 | 22% |
| Ontario | 98,722 | 136,662 | 38% |
| Manitoba | 11,426 | 12,340 | 8% |
| Saskatchewan | 8,439 | 8,302 | -2% |
| Alberta | 17,242 | 19,156 | 11% |
| British Columbia | 27,778 | 32,600 | 17% |
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 281-0024 – Employment (SEPH), unadjusted for seasonal variation, by type of employee for selected industries classified using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), annual (persons).
Here’s an economic problem for you. Where do federal job cuts occur most and least if you cut through attrition and early retirement? Hint 1. Those places that have done a lot of hiring over the past 10 years will have the youngest profile and be least affected. http://smartcityblog.greaterhalifax.com/smartcity/2012/03/federal-budget-how-job-reallocations-tend-to-work-.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SmartcityBlog+%28SmartCity+Blog%29