Prince Edward Island Receives a "B" Grade on its 2013 "How Canada Performs: Economy" Report Card
Province benefitted from strong manufacturing output
OTTAWA, May 15, 2014 /CNW/ - Prince Edward Island earns a "B" grade for its overall economic performance, according to The Conference Board of Canada's first
"How Canada Performs: Economy" report card to compare the 10 provinces and 16 advanced countries. Released today, and building on previous "How Canada Performs" analyses, the Economy report card is the first of six to be produced over the next year on Canadian and provincial socio-economic performance.
P.E.I.'s overall "B" grade places the province 15th among the 26 jurisdictions covered in this analysis.
"In 2013, Prince Edward Island benefitted from solid economic growth in the manufacturing sector and strong employment growth in some service sectors," said Glen Hodgson, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist.
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P.E.I. scores an "A+" grade on employment growth, with a gain of close to two per cent in 2013. This was higher than the growth seen in any of the peer countries that year. It is important to note that the province's tiny labour market means that a modest gain in employment in one sector of the economy can have a significant impact on P.E.I.'s overall job growth.
P.E.I. also earned an "A+" grade on inward greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) over the 2008 to 2012 period. Greenfield FDI is investment that expands an existing business or creates a new business, as opposed to a merger or acquisition. Over the five year period, P.E.I. received about twice the global FDI that would be expected for an economy of its size.
The province's overall ranking could have been better, but "D" grades on three indicators pulled its overall score down. P.E.I. had the highest unemployment rate in Canada and only Ireland had a higher rate among the 16 peer countries. P.E.I. ranked in last place among all provinces and peer countries on income per capita and had no recorded outward FDI over the 2008-2012 period.
The Conference Board of Canada will hold an Atlantic Canada Business Outlook Webinar on June 24, 2014 at 2:30 p.m. ADT.
How Canada Performs is an ongoing research program at The Conference Board of Canada to help leaders identify relative strengths and weaknesses in Canada's socio-economic performance. The How Canada Performs website presents data and analysis on Canada's performance compared to peer countries in six performance categories: Economy, Innovation, Environment, Education and Skills, Health, and Society.
This is the first year that provincial and territorial rankings are included in the analysis.
The Education and Skills report card will be released in June.
SOURCE: Conference Board of Canada
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Yvonne Squires, Media Relations, Tel.: 613- 526-3090 ext. 221
E-mail: [email protected]
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