Business Climate Index 2004

Nova Scotia's business climate ranks 3rd

This is the third edition of Nova Scotia's Business Climate Index. This report monitors and compares Nova Scotia's business-climate ranking nationally and within Atlantic Canada using comparable measures. It assesses general business climate across 53 indicators and ranks the province on each of these relative to other provinces in Canada. Data for the index is compiled primarily from Statistics Canada and is based on the most recent year available.

This report builds on the Index from last year and uses additional resources suggested by feedback from the federal/provincial business-climate working group and stakeholders.

As a result of this feedback data sources for several indicators were changed; Literacy, Sewage Treatment, Manufacturing Capital Investment, Land Cost and OH&S Regulation, to regularly available and up-to-date data sources.

Many indicators were revised to reflect changes in Statistics Canada data sources and to use more up-to-date information.

PROVINCE	2000r	2001
Alberta	2nd	1st
Ontario	1st	2nd
Nova Scotia	4th	3rd
British Columbia	3rd	4th
Quebec	5th	5th
Manitoba	6th	6th
Prince Edward Island	9th	7th
New Brunswick	7th	8th
Newfoundland & Labrador	8th	9th
Saskatchewan	10th	10th

Nova Scotia continued its 4th place ranking in Canada and 1st place ranking in Atlantic Canada in Development Capacity. Development capacity refers to the quality of the social and physical infrastructure supporting economic performance. Nova Scotia's rankings improved in high school attainment, health professionals per capita, patents granted, venture capital investments and major crimes. It slipped in graduates with advanced degrees, and internet use. Challenges continued in the level of financial resources available to business and attraction of immigrants.

	INDICATORS	2000r	2001
Human Resources	Post-secondary Education Attainment	1	1
	High School Attainment	5	4
	Low Education Attainment	6	6
	Skilled Immigrants	6	6
Technology Resources	Graduates with Advanced Degrees (replacing Doctorate Graduates)	3	5
	Science/Engineering Graduates	2	3
	Patents Granted	9	7
Financial Resources	Venture Capital Investments	8	6
	Business Loans Per Employee	6	6
Infrastructure and Amenities	Health Professionals Per Capita	4	2
	Highway Quality	3	2
	Internet Use	4	5
	Land Cost	4*	4*
	Major Crimes	5	4
	Sewage Treatment	8*	8*
Overall Ranking	Development Capacity	4	4

Nova Scotia's ranking improved from 8th to 3rd in 2001 and was 1st in Atlantic Canada. Economic performance refers to the strength and growth of the provincial economy. Nova Scotia's ranking improved in personal income growth, GDP growth, average annual pay growth and income distribution. Employment growth slowed. The economy surged ahead as offshore activity intensified and construction increased.

	INDICATORS	2000r	2001
Output	Personal Income Growth	9	4
	GDP Growth Rate	7	2
	Personal Income Per Capita	6	6
	GDP Per Capita	8	7
Employment Base	Employment Growth	3	7
	Unemployment Rate	7	7
Earnings and Job Quality	Average Annual Pay Growth	9	3
	Average Annual Pay	7	6
Equity Rural	Income vs Urban Income	6*	6*
	Low Income	6	6
	Income Distribution	6	5
	% Income Distribution Change	4	3
Overall Ranking	Economic Performance	8	3

Nova Scotia's tax and fiscal environment moved to rank 4th in Canada and 1st in Atlantic Canada. Rankings improved in government expenditures per GDP, property tax per GDP and corporate tax per GDP. Rankings slipped in personal income tax paid and sales tax per GDP. Overall Nova Scotia's tax & fiscal environment continues to be competitive.

	INDICATORS	2000r	2001
Tax Base	Corporate Tax/GDP	5	3
	Indirect Tax/Personal Income	2	2
	Personal Income Tax	4	9
	Sales Tax/Personal Income	4	5
	Property Tax/GDP	4	3
	Workers' Compensation Premiums	8	8
Expenditures Base	R&D Tax Credits/Businesses	6	6
	Business Subsidies/GDP	2	2
	Government Expenditures/GDP	7	6
	Public Debt per Capita	8	8
	Government Employment per Capita	2	2
Overall Ranking	Tax & Fiscal Environment	3	4

Nova Scotia's rank improved from 6th to 3rd in Canada in business vitality. Business vitality refers to the strength of its business sector. Nova Scotia continued its leadership in percentage change in new business job growth and improved in workplace safety and labour cost. Rankings slipped in business immigration and change in new companies. Change in export diversity weakened as gas exports stabilized.

	INDICATORS	2000r	2001
Existing Business Strength	Manufacturing Capital Investment	7	2
	Business Service Employment Growth	8	3
	Manufacturing Salaries/Worker	7	6
	Business Closings	8	8*
Entrepreneurial Energy	Change In New Companies	9	9*
	New Business Job Growth	1	1*
	Business Immigration	3	4
	New Companies	5	5*
Structural Diversity	Export Diversity	5	5
	Change In Export Diversity	5	9
Business Location Competitiveness	Transportation Cost Index	3	4
	Labour Cost	5	5
	Housing Cost	6	6
	OH&S Effectiveness (Regulation)	3	3
	Electricity Cost	9	9
Overall Ranking	Business Vitality	5	3
r = ranking has been revised to include new indicators and revisions by Statistics Canada * not included in calculating the overall ranking; comparable data not available