Despite record growth, New Brunswick’s population swell won’t be enough to expand the population’s economy.
New Brunswick’s total population reached an all-time high of 780,021 in September after posting its strongest quarterly growth since 1975.
But economic development consultant David Campbell says it’s not enough. Campbell is the former chief economist of the New Brunswick Jobs Board.
According to Campbell, 1,500 New Brunswickers retired each year in the 90s. In 2019, that figure is 6,000. In addition, the province’s workforce shrank again this year and over ten thousand jobs remained vacant in Q3 2019.
To stem the decline, Campbell suggests encouraging Baby Boomers to work longer and better match newcomers to appropriate jobs. He also urges the province to set more ambitious growth targets.
Indeed, there is room for improvement on that front: Statistics Canada reports that N.B. had the second lowest average GDP growth between 2008 and 2018 of all Canadian provinces.