Shift Share
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Shift Share
Halifax is one of the oldest cities in Canada, which began in 1749 as the town of Halifax. The Halifax region had a population of 390,096 as of 2011, with 297,943 residing in urban areas. One of the industries outperforming the national level is Professional, Scientific and Technical Services that had a regional shift-share of 4.54. This can be explained by the increasing number of people in the urban areas. With such increase, many people require professional services to survive in the current economic conditions facing the region. However, this is not only determined by the population in the urban area, but also its kind. There is a demographic shift of youthful persons from provincial and small towns and communities into the city. These people are equipped with the right knowledge and skills for such jobs.
Although professional, scientific and technical services industries are the highest in outperforming the national level, it is interesting to note that they did not record the highest percentage growth rate. The highest growing industry in this region was utilities, which recorded a 56% growth rate. However, it only outperformed the national level by 0.98, which means its growth can be attributed to the national factors. Another industry that grew more than the professional, scientific and technical services in this region is forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas, which recorded 50% growth rate. However, its regional shift-share was a mere 0.69, meaning most of its improvement can be attributed to the national factors that raise all areas. The industry that substantially underperformed the national level was trade with -1.87 regional shift-share and a percentage growth of -4%. Interestingly, manufacturing recorded a growth of -17 but a higher regional shift-share than trade, which was at -0.61, meaning the whole country is experiencing reduced manufacturing.
It is fascinating to note that regional shift-share indicates the unique feature of a region. Although it does not say what contributed to its score, one can realize that when national factors do not. This is explained by the fact that the highest growing industries within this region, Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas and utilities did not record the highest performance while the lowest growing did not record the least underperformance. This indicates that Professional, scientific and technical services industry within this region is favored by factors that are unique to Halifax.