Herb Emery is the Vaughan Chair in Regional Economics at the University of New Brunswick. (Submitted)
A New Brunswick economist says the province’s labour market has not changed much over the past year.
The April labour force survey from Statistics Canada shows employment grew by just 500 jobs year-over-year.
Herb Emery, the Vaughan Chair in Regional Economics at the University of New Brunswick, said a lack of private-sector investment is the reason behind our “stagnant economy.”
“Some of that is related to the decision not to exploit natural resources like shale gas or increase the amount of harvest in the forests to increase exports,” said Emery.
Emery said exports drive our province’s labour demand, leading to more investment and allowing firms to hire more people and pay them more.
He said government policy often makes it hard for businesses to get their products to market or make a return on investment.
“They either stay with what they have and they don’t expand or they expand somewhere else, which is what we’ve seen a lot of out of New Brunswick.”
Emery said we need to pay better attention to decisions governments are making and the actions they take on trade agreements.
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