BRIGHTON: Study links poor productivity to N.S. focus on jobs strategy
Nova Scotia workers, who are half as productive as their American counterparts and two-thirds as productive as their Canadian compatriots, can now say with confidence that it’s not their fault — their bosses are to blame.
The account of Nova Scotia’s poor productivity record relative to Canada is contained in a report commissioned by the provincial and federal governments and released this week with no fanfare.
The cold shoulder given the report by the provincial government is not surprising, given that it contains two public-relations bombshells.
One calls into question the province’s jobs-creation strategy. The other reveals the sorry state of Nova Scotia’s apprenticeship system just as the shipbuilding industry gathers steam.
Prepared by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards in Ottawa, the report concludes “that the Nova Scotia-Canada labour productivity gap is accounted for by weak investment in machinery and equipment and business R&D and that human capital played a small role.”
But it also links the province’s jobs strategy to weak productivity.
Authors Andrew Sharpe and Ricardo de Avillez suggest “one area where provincial public policy could have potentially contributed to (the) poor productivity gap is an emphasis on job creation over productivity advance.”
Sharpe is executive director of the research institute that issued the report.
He said the province’s low levels of business investment were well known, but he was surprised to discover the “weakness of the apprenticeship system.”
“Nova Scotia did extremely badly on that criteria,” he said.
From 1991 to 2009 the number of apprenticeships in Nova Scotia grew at just above one per cent a year, “well below the national rate of 4.26 per cent,” the report says.
Over this period, Nova Scotia placed ninth among the provinces in terms of growth in apprenticeship registrations, ahead of New Brunswick, and last in terms of completed apprenticeships.
“The weak growth of both apprenticeship registrations and completions in Nova Scotia may pose a challenge in the future, particularly in the context of the major expansion of the shipbuilding industry, which employs many tradespersons,” the report warns.
Sharpe thinks the federal and provincial governments have their hands on the right policy levers to foster productivity.
Yet he said businesses are “just not responding to those incentives,” presumably for lack of good opportunities to invest.
That leaves Nova Scotia “on the periphery in terms of productivity,” he said.
The forces that are pushing Nova Scotia to the margins of the country’s economy, shown in weak business investment, productivity and population growth, may abate as the shipbuilding industry creates a counterforce.
But its effect will be diminished unless industry, unions, government and the college system can fix the broken link in the labour chain — the apprenticeship system.
Otherwise, more workers may be brought in from outside the province to fill skilled jobs for which the local workforce has not been properly prepared.
That would be a great irony, coming on the heels of federal EI reforms meant to displace immigrant labourers and force more Nova Scotians into unwanted jobs.
Rachel Brighton is a freelance journalist and former magazine publisher. She writes on environmental technology for the new Herald Magazine and on small business for The Chronicle Herald.
Criticism
Submitted by Bill Kelley on July 1, 2012 - 7:26am.
No wonder there wasn't any fanfare, Dexter does not like to hear criticism, unless he can deflect the blame elsewhere.
He's had 3 years in power and his tenure has produced very little to help families, which is what he was elected on.
Instead of throwing money at big business he should have directed that money at skills training, like the report says.
"Dexter does not like to hear criticism"?
Submitted by hav2b on July 1, 2012 - 11:25am.
Then he's in the wrong field.
I see in another story, in today's business section, that "Sprott seeks N.S. renewable deal". That's the horse to which Dexter should hitch his wagon. He should give up on the Muskrat Falls farce and back companies, smaller than NSPI, in their attempts to compete in this now monopolistic business. If he ever hopes to regain any form of respect, in Nova Scotia, he has to do something to earn it.
As far as I'm concerned though, it's already too late for him to regain my confidence. He's lost my support.
Maybe we should raise the
Submitted by Plow man on July 1, 2012 - 7:51am.
Maybe we should raise the taxes and and make it more expensive and harder to leave your job to try to better yourself !!!!!!!!! Everything is to expensive in this province, like power ,gas,oil,and so on !!!!!!! Business are leaving companies are coming for the government intensives and after it's gone there gone again !!!!!!!!!!!!! The price of everything started going up ever since the big banks started merging together and companies started buying other companies and set the prices to what they want !!!!!! That's when everything started going BIG ,go big or go home ,no more small service station and no more small corner store !!!!!!!!!! This is my two cents !!!!
LACK OF PRODUCTIVITY
Submitted by bearpaw on July 1, 2012 - 8:32am.
Although very true, don't blame DEXTER,alone. This has been a problem, for umpteen years. I travel. I see a big difference in work ethics. The very first line-" HALF AS PRODUCTIVE AS THEIR AMERICAN COUNTERPARTS", is O so true. One thing that might clear the air, is our way of doing business. We tend to do most things "by the hour", and the longer it takes, the more money, it costs, so the hours go on and on.. Multiply the time taken by the hourly rate, Americans, generally take the job at a fixed rate. They quote a firm price. When they land on a job site, they are ready and running. The job is done fast, and they are on to the next job. Also, our area is "BIG UNION", and you know what that means.
Culture of what??
Submitted by pensive on July 1, 2012 - 9:45am.
BIG UNIONS + generations of government handouts + make-work projects + low productivity expectations = Culture of defeat.
"BIG UNION"?
Submitted by hav2b on July 1, 2012 - 9:51am.
No, I do not know what that means.
Your whole last sentence was just an ill-informed and scabby insult being directed at one of the country's most useful and important institutions, the foundation supporting a safe workplace and reasonably acceptable wages.
In the future, if you know nothing on a subject, restrict your comments to a range within those limits.
NDP took away M&P Tax Credit
Submitted by Halifaxguy on July 1, 2012 - 9:17am.
The Government took away the M&P credit and replaced it with a targeted grant for larger projects. All the small manufacturing businesses who used to quietly and anonymously file their tax returns and get the credit now have to submit a business plan for a large capital expenditure and hope to get the grant and hope their plans remain confidential. Most small businesses wouldn't have a $200,000 capital program and not everyone wants to share their business plans with Govt. If you win the grant it is a "requirement" that you agree to PR with the government, usually a picture with the Premier. The Unions with their first contract arbitration are usually just outside the picture frame. The replacement of a tax credit to incent growth with a picture opportunity for politicians is really bad economics.
apprenticeship
Submitted by poibairean on July 1, 2012 - 9:31am.
Much more suited to the 19th century than the 21st, plus the inter-provincial rules are just plain silly. These days you need to be constantly upgrading your skill-set regardless of your employment. The entire educational system needs a shakeup. I work with newly graduated MBA's and CA's who know very little about history, literature or current affairs, and they don't vote. The computer scientists are much better and, in general, in my experience, for some reason they do vote. They always seem to be outraged about something, but at least they are engaged. University today is basically just an advanced trade school rather than an institution that graduates well rounded individuals with a broad understanding of the world and our own culture. An expensive community college with nice costumes at graduation and too much free time. Someone better start thinking about continuous education delivered via the internet for all citizens from 6 to 60 (soon to be 67) or the Chinese and the south Asians are going to give us a tuning. They are innovative, hardworking and know the value of education.
Poor Productivity is a Euphemism for Corporate Greed
Submitted by conky888 on July 1, 2012 - 10:00am.
What a tired old phrase. When this "poor productivity" hammer started being used by the corporate world to beat up employees and move the jobs to cheaper locations, ceo salaries skyrocketed. It has been used to offshore jobs not only in Nova Scotia, but all over North America. Employment, while never a personal choice used to be a relatively communal and pleasant challenge with generally happy colleagues. Now it is a high pressure, backstabbing scramble for pennies slavery. Surely humanity can do better than this for the time we are on this planet.
when things don't add up
Submitted by jsa on July 1, 2012 - 10:11am.
For years we , in Atlantic Canada, have just accepted that we were not as productive as other parts of the country and continent. Given that the fault for this as stated in this study lies with the failure to modernize and the failure to do appropriate human resources R&D that is not surprising.Having worked for over thirty-eight years in a unionized environment and a few in non-unionized, I have seen hard-working Nova Scotians putting in a strong day's work so all the talk of low productivity did not add up. When we do not train and educate our women and men to prepare them for the competitive and demanding work place then we are hurting our productivity big time.This report should be our blueprint for achieving increases in productivity and pride in the efforts put forth by our working people.The article was informative and the insight from the report appreciated. Here's hoping that those responsible for addressing the identified short-comings do their jobs with efficiency and efficacy.As for the job creation strategy and the apprenticeship program, successive governments have been told that these are problem areas and they have not responded; it's time to change course and get it right.Adopt best practices;spend the money to do it right and history will be re-written in a short period of time.
Cost Cutting Measures
Submitted by Alberta Bound on July 1, 2012 - 10:40am.
Companies in Nova Scotia such as the former NewPage mill in Port Hawkesbury were run by management whose sole goal was to lower the cost of production. In fact, we were told that they didn't want ideas that would lead to increased production, they only wanted ideas to lower the cost per tonne of production. And it is with this mindset that they operated that plant. And one of the things they did not support was the apprenticeship program.
There are the problems, here are the solutions.
Submitted by hav2b on July 1, 2012 - 10:41am.
The "province’s jobs-creation strategy" seems to have fallen victim to, and been replaced by, a government's repeated insistance on maintaining dying businesses, throwing millions of dollars at companies producing unneeded and unwanted commodities. Now, if the responsibility for that rests with Premier Darrell Dexter (yes, he's the one proudly waving in the accompanying picture), don't expect or wait for him to correct it. Replace him with a more intelligent and thinking representative.
The blame for "the sorry state of Nova Scotia’s apprenticeship system" can be handed directly to a society whose children's worth is considered to be far above getting dirty hands, opting instead to choose digital manipulation of a keyboard over handling a wrench, torch or hammer. The deluded parents, in this society, believe their offspring are destined only to become doctors, lawyers or (God help them) politicians. The reality is that some kids are just NOT cut out to fit those molds and should be urged, instead, to seek and learn an honest workman's trade. The shame is not in having 'only' a diploma of qualification as journeyman in a given field, the shame is in a society which will allow its children to follow the wrong path, only for the sake of misdirected pride.
The sad reality of politics
Submitted by atlanticaparty on July 1, 2012 - 11:07am.
The sad reality of politics in Nova Scotia until now is our political leaders are unable to make the difficult decisions to tackle these problems; low prosperity, high taxes, big government which leads to moribund business activity. The Atlantiva Party released an alternative budget a few weeks ago that directly tackles the need to create business prosperity. Read the full text here www.atlanticaparty.ca
It is this way because people want it this way
Submitted by Here on July 1, 2012 - 11:48am.
Halifax and Nova Scotia have something most other provinces don't. Year round deep water access to the world and markets. We never use that opportunity. Instead we sit and ask Montreal if they would please fix their track to their distribution facilities. Then we turn up our noses at Alberta's perpetual stimulus of no sales tax and lower provincial tax, saying it is only because they have "oil".
Naw, Alberta and several other locations have something Nova Scotia lost a long time ago. They are visionary, they see opportunity. We just see obstacles. Love him or hate him but Ralph Klein fixed a broken Alberta by cutting government interference.
I am all for incentives to companies to set up financial and other services here but it needs more. An incentive to invest in the province once they are here, to protect and increase their profit if it is invested in Nova Scotia. I am not much for me taking dollars out of my pocket to pave a Swede's driveway before winter comes. I am all for helping them make a profit if NS makes a profit.
Make it attractive to investors and local business will either adapt or sell out. Either would benefit the economy.