Government of Nova Scotia gov.ns.ca
gov.ns.ca Government of Nova Scotia Nova Scotia, Canada
Economic and Rural Development and Tourism

Definitions of Terms

Indicators

Development Capacity

Development Capacity examines the quality and availability of the of the social and physical infrastructure building blocks of successful economies. Capacity levels impact both short term and long term development prospects.
  • Human Resources - This sub-index identifies the education and skill levels of the workforce.
    • Post-secondary Education Attainment - measures post-secondary certificate or diplomas and university degrees per total population fifteen and older (Labour Force Historical Review, Statistics Canada, Catalogue 71F0004XCB (2004)
    • High School Attainment - measures high school diplomas per total population fifteen and older (Labour Force Historical Review, Statistics Canada, Catalogue 71F0004XCB (2004)
    • Low Education Attainment (formally literacy) - estimate of literacy levels using the number of individuals aged 25 to 44 with grade 8 education or less. (Labour Force Historical Review, Statistics Canada, Catalogue 71F0004XCB (2004))
    • Skilled Immigrants - measures skilled immigrant workers who enter the labour force as employees per 10,000 employees (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2004)
  • Technology Resources - This sub-index measures technical knowledge and technological resources.
    • Graduates with Advanced Degrees - measures population with advanced degrees per population fifteen and older (Labour Force Historical Review, Statistics Canada, Catalogue 71F0004XCB (2004))
    • Science/Engineering Students - measures number of students per one hundred thousand population (Statistics Canada - Enhanced Student Information System - CANSIM 477-0011 and Annual Demographic Statistics, 2004 - Catalogue No. 91-213 XPB)
    • Patents Granted - measures number of patents per million population (Canadian Intellectual Property Office, 2003)
  • Financial Resources - This sub-index focuses on the availability and use of capital to meet the full range of business needs
  • Infrastructure and Amenities - This sub-index measures the condition of a province's physical infrastructure and quality of life.
    • Health Professionals Per Capita - measures employment of health professionals per total population (Labour Force Historical Review, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 71F0004XCB (2004))
    • Highway Quality - measures fatalities per billion vehicle-kilometers (Transport Canada, Annual Report, 2003)
    • Internet Use - measures internet penetration rates from home, work, school and public access sites (Connectiveness Series, 2003, Statistics Canada Catalogue No. 56F0004MIE)
    • Land Cost - measures cost per acre, greenfield site, suburban area, light-medium industry selected cities (KPMG, A Comparison of Business Costs in North America, Europe and Japan,1999,and KPMG, Competitive Alternatives www.competitivealternatives.com February 2004 Bi-annual)
    • Major Crimes - measures crimes of violence, break & enter, theft over $5,000 per 100,000 population (Canadian Crime Statistics, 2004, Statistics Canada Catalogue No. 85 205 XPE)
    • Sewage Treatment - Secondary or better treatment (Sources: BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection; Environment Canada, MUD database, 2001)
Economic Performance

Economic Performance measures the strength and growth of the Nova Scotia economy and how well provinces provide opportunities for employment, income, and an improving quality of life.
  • Output - This sub-index measures the productive capacity of the economy to create growth.
    • Personal Income Growth - measures year over year growth of total personal income (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • GDP Growth Rate - measures per cent rate of increase year over year (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Personal Income Per Capita - measures personal income per population (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • GDP Per Capita - measures Gross Domestic Product per population (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
  • Employment Base - This sub-index measures the extent to which the economy is providing work for those who seek it.
    • Employment Growth - measures simple growth in employment year over year (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Unemployment Rate - measures percent of workforce unemployed (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
  • Earnings and Job Quality - This sub-index measures how well people are compensated for the work they do.
    • Average Annual Pay Growth - measures simple growth in average annual pay (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Average Annual Pay - measures labour income per total employment (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
  • Equity - This sub-index identifies the extent to which the opportunity to attain a high standard of living is widely shared.
    • Rural Income vs. Urban Income - measures average income of rural regions per average income (Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, program #A100414.)
    • Low Income - persons in low income after tax using official rates of published cut-offs as a per cent of low income (Low-Income Cutoffs 2003 and Low Income Measures 2003, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 75F0002MIE99917and Income In Canada 2003 - Catalogue 75-202-XIE)
    • Income Distribution - The GINI coefficient measures the degree of inequality in an income distribution. (Statistics Canada - GINI Coefficients 2003)
    • % Income Distribution Change - measures simple five year change in GINI coefficients. (Statistics Canada - GINI Coefficients 2003)
Tax & Fiscal Environment

Tax & Fiscal Environment measures the extent to which Nova Scotia companies and individuals are taxed and how those funds are used to grow the economy.
  • Tax Base - This sub-index measures the effective taxes by a province.
    • Corporate Tax Per GDP - measures direct taxes from corporations per Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Indirect Tax/Per Personal Income - measures indirect taxes per personal income (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Personal Income Tax - measures direct taxes from persons per personal income. Rankings are based on the amount of provincial income tax paid by a two-child family in three income scenarios: earning $30,000, earning $60,000 and earning $100,000 (Statistics Canada, 2004, Alberta Finance, 2004)
    • Sales Tax/Personal Income - measures provincial sales taxes per personal income. (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Property Tax/GDP - measures real property tax per GDP at market prices (Provincial Economic Accounts, 2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Workers' Compensation Premiums - measures Workers' Compensation premiums per covered employee (Statistics Canada, 2005, Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada, 2005)
  • Expenditures Base - This sub-index measures the major business climate expenditures.
    • R&D Expenditures/Businesses - measures Research & Development expenditures per number of businesses (Industrial Research and Development, 2003 Intentions, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 88-202-XIB )
    • Business Subsidies Per GDP - measures current transfers to business per GDP (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Government Expenditures Per GDP - measures net current expenditures on goods and services per GDP (Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13 213 XDB)
    • Public Debt per Capita - measure the level of provincial government debt per person. (Statistics Canada, Financial Management System, 2004)
    • Government Employment per Capita - This indicator measures the number of provincial and municipal government employees (not including health, social services and education) for 1000 of population. (Statistics Canada - Public Institutions Division (2004) - CANSIM 183-0002)
Business Vitality

Business Vitality recognizes the importance of the health of businesses located within a province. It measure the strength of the business sector.
  • Existing Business Strength - This sub-index measures the strength of a province's traded sector and whether businesses are being sustained.
    • Manufacturing Capital Investment - Business Gross Fixed Capital Formation in Machinery and Equipment as a Percent of GDP. (Source: Provincial Economic Accounts,2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 13-213-XDB November Annually)
    • Business Service Employment Growth - measures five year growth rate of occupations in the business service sector (professional, scientific and technical; and management and related occupations) in a province. (Labour Force Historical Review, Statistics Canada, Catalogue 71F0004XCB (2004))
    • Manufacturing Salaries/Worker - measures manufacturing annual earnings for hourly employees per worker (Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, 2004 Statistics Canada - CANSIM Table 281-0026 and 281-0024)
    • Business Closings - measures percentage rate of business closings (Employment Dynamics, 2003 Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 61F0020XCB)
  • Entrepreneurial Energy - This sub-index evaluates the extent to which new firms are generated and whether they are contributing to employment growth.
    • Change in New Companies - measures percentage change in the number of new businesses per total businesses (Employment Dynamics, 2003, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 61F0020XCB)
    • New Business Job Growth - measures percentage change in new business employment (Employment Dynamics, 2003, Statistics Canada Catalogue No. 61F0020XCB)
    • Business Immigration - measures the number of immigrant investors, entrepreneurs and self employed per total employment (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2004)
    • New Companies - measures the number of new businesses to total businesses (Employment Dynamics, 2003, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 61F0020XCB)
  • Structural Diversity - This sub-index determines if the economic base of the province is sufficiently varied to ensure it can grow even if the market changes for any industry’s products.
    • Export Diversity - measures top five exports as percentage of total (Strategis, Trade Data Online Industry Canada, 2004. Data from Statistics Canada and the U.S. Census Bureau (U.S. Department of Commerce))
    • Change in Export Diversity - measures the percent change in sectoral diversity (Strategis, Trade Data Online Industry Canada, 2004. Data from Statistics Canada and the U.S. Census Bureau (U.S. Department of Commerce)
  • Business Location Competitiveness - This sub-index measures the direct costs of locating in a regional economy.
    • Transportation Cost Index - measures cost index from the Consumer Price Index (Consumer prices and price indexes, 2004. Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 62 010 XIB)
    • Labour Cost - measures labour income per total employment (Canadian Economic Observer, 2004, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 11-010-XPB)
    • Housing Cost - measures average home sale price divided by after tax income. (Average home sale price is based on the Canadian Real Estate Association's Multiple Listing Service (MLS)TM average annual sale price for homes sold through the Halifax Dartmouth Real Estate Board. MLSTM is a registered trade mark of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and (Income in Canada, 2004, Statistics Canada, Catalogue No. 75-202-XIE)
    • OH&S Effectiveness - measures injury frequency per 100 workers (Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada December 2004)
    • Electricity Cost - measures average total price per kilowatt-hour (Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution, 2003, Statistics Canada - Catalogue No. 57-202-XPB)