Economic catastrophes have a habit of inverting the natural order of things. Governments take over car companies. American consumers begin to save. And unemployed Wall Street professionals look to Nova Scotia for work.
That's right, Nova Scotia: the same province that for decades has been dismissed as an economic ne'er-do-well, a place that has been steadily robbed of its fisheries, its mines, and its most promising talent.
Not any more. As the recession has taken hold, wreaking havoc in the North American job market and gutting home equity, Nova Scotia actually seems to be getting stronger. It had the best full-time job growth numbers in Canada over the past 12 months, and in Halifax, its largest city, home prices are expected to hold steady or increase this year, bucking a national drop of 7 per cent.
“What's really neat about this is that during the whole recession, Halifax has quietly carried on as if there wasn't one,” said Stephen Lund, CEO of the province's business development agency, Nova Scotia Business Inc. “We're pretty excited about what we see.”
Last Wednesday evening, Mr. Lund was in New York as the lead sponsor of the Wall Street Pink Slip Party, a kind of recruitment fair that resembles corporate speed-dating.
A pink slip party in New York— 2009 Getty Images
More than 500 financial professionals, many of them junior analysts, traders, and sales people, crowded into a Manhattan wine bar to network, sip cocktails, and swap business cards. Those looking for work wore fluorescent pink bracelets; those looking to hire, like Mr. Lund, wore green ones.
“For us, its exposure in the U.S.,” he said. “It's really creating awareness. We're positioning [Halifax] as a world financial centre.”
Plenty of cities have made that boast, but few have actually backed it up. And while it might be fanciful to think Halifax could become a world-class financial hub, it is making encouraging strides.
A few years ago, Mr. Lund and his team began cold-calling hedge fund administrators in Bermuda, preaching the gospel of doing business in Nova Scotia: a plenitude of university grads; a low cost of doing business; virtually zero turnover in the employment ranks; and of course, some generous tax breaks from the local government.
The province has since attracted several heavyweights in the hedge fund and insurance industries, including Citco Fund Services, Butterfield Fulcrum, Meridian Fund Services, and Marsh.
Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) has also recruited technology companies like Research In Motion, and a handful of the largest defence companies, like Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics.
“We could have increased employment in various sites across Canada,” said Michael Barton, an Ottawa-based spokesman for Lockheed. “But to us Halifax is attractive – proximity to the customer is one reason, but also the availability of qualified labour.”
Lockheed plans to create up to 100 new jobs within the next five years in Halifax for positions ranging from software engineers to computer systems analysts. The move will more than double its work force in the city as the company works on a contract to help modernize Canadian Navy frigates.
One thing you'll find with the government of Nova Scotia, they are aggressive
“One thing you'll find with the government of Nova Scotia, they are aggressive. They come to you with a ‘how can we help' kind of attitude. They're persistent. And they have some unique tools in their bag,” like payroll rebates, Mr. Barton added.
Each new hire Lockheed makes will qualify for a rebate of up to $18,294 per person.
