December 4, 1998
(Finance)

The following statement was issued today by Paul Dicks, Minister of Finance. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

It gives me great pleasure to rise before the House today to inform my colleagues of another good month of employment growth in Newfoundland and Labrador. Statistics Canada reported this morning that in November there were 8,600 more jobs in this province than we had last November, which is an increase of 4.4 per cent. The average job gain over the first 11 months of this year was 6,300 or 3.3 per cent.

The labour market numbers are reflecting the improvement in the provincial economy which has benefited from strength in both investment and consumer spending. Investment spending is expected to grow 6.7 per cent in 1998, with the Terra Nova development being an important contributor. Consumer spending has also increased with retail sales up 2.9 per cent over last year for the January to September period. Furthermore, our exports are performing strongly. Exports of crude oil, iron ore, and fish products all increased. In fact, for the first nine months of this year, the value of our international exports increased by 12.3 per cent. Other year-to-date indicators are also positive with the value of manufacturing shipments up 8.6 per cent, the volume of iron ore production up 5.2 per cent, and fish landings up 30 per cent.

Although it increased slightly by 0.8 percentage points in November, the unemployment rate averaged 1.1 percentage points lower on a year-to-date basis. The number of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians out of work averaged 1,700 fewer than last year. Although we have much further to go before we have low unemployment, we are making significant progress.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment declined slightly by 1,700 following two large consecutive monthly gains totalling 14,000. Despite this decline, the level of employment achieved in November remained higher than that achieved in any of the preceding 42 months.

In addition to these employment gains, the Conference Board of Canada reaffirmed its confidence that this province will lead the country with 4.5 per cent real GDP growth in 1998, and 5.7 per cent in 1999.

1998 12 04                10:10 a.m.