The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Manitoba made important gains in the percentage of people working, and improved the relative pay levels of men and women over the five years ending in 2003, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba (ICAM). In the final installment of its annual review, ICAM noted a 4.4 per cent gain in wage parity, and a .5 per cent gain in the employment rate over the past five years, both exceeded only by British Columbia among the five provinces measured. ICAM CEO Gary Hannaford said the favourable numbers are tempered by weak performance in real wages, which fell 2.2 per cent during the period from 1998 to 2003. He noted, however, that all jurisdictions studied showed some loss in real wages, and that Manitoba's decline was the smallest. He said the performance in wages is compounded by a poor record of job creation. "While 38,000 new jobs were created in the service sector over the past five years in Manitoba, we lagged well behind all other jurisdictions studied except Saskatchewan", Hannaford indicated. Mr. Hannaford also pointed to underperformance in educational attainment, where in absolute terms, Manitoba ranks last in terms of 18 to 54 year olds who have completed some kind of post-secondary education, with only 54.3 per cent holding a post-secondary diploma or higher. Population figures reflect Manitoba's middling results. Over the five-year period, Manitoba attracted 87,000 people to the province ? but 108,000 residents chose to move out. "Population is a reliable indicator of how opportunity is interpreted at the street level. We have succeeded in drawing record numbers to come to our province. Unfortunately, even more of those already here are choosing to leave." To help offset the loss of Manitobans to other provinces, the Manitoba government has been very proactive in trying to attract immigrants to the province. The effort has shown positive results over the past couple of years. In 2003, total migration to Manitoba was a greater than those leaving the province after taking international migration into account. Like rural Saskatchewan and parts of the American Midwest, Manitoba's farm communities are suffering from out-migration. Agriculture lost 7,800 jobs over the five years. The Chartered Accountants believe an important element in ramping up Manitoba's results is accelerating the rate of improvement in education level. "In a knowledge economy, a well-educated, highly skilled workforce is critical. Future job creation hinges on how well we prepare people today," Mr. Hannaford said. "Once educated, we then must find opportunities to keep them here." He suggested that the College Expansion Initiative that created 2,000 more student positions in the new Red River College campus in downtown Winnipeg is a step in the right direction but we have not yet seen the benefits of this effort. See 'A' P.# Con't from P.# MB Check-Up is published each year by ICAM. It provides an independent factual comparison of the four Western provinces, together with Ontario and the Canadian average. The report uses 15 key indicators applied to all of the measured jurisdictions, creating a profile of each as a place to live, a place to work, and a place to invest. The full report, as well as further details from the research documents, is available on the Internet at www.icam.mb.ca under Media Centre. This installment of the report, dealing with Manitoba as a place to work, is the last of three to be released. Manitoba as a place to live: a mixed message Manitoba has a mixed but generally favourable showing as a place to live, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba" (ICAM) third annual assessment, MB Check-Up. In its third annual assessment of Manitoba as a place to live, work and invest, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba (ICAM) reports that Manitoba's showing was quite mixed when considering measures related to quality of life. Between 1998 and 2003, Manitoba fared very well in two key indicators of quality of life, with the largest increase of any jurisdiction measured in two indicators with the largest increase in health care spending and the second lowest increase smallest increase in personal debt per capita. However, Manitoba did compare favourably to the Western provinces and Ontario in terms of changes in real disposable income and the crime rate over the same time frame. Despite a decline in real disposable income, and a rise in crime, Manitoba's record on these measures was comparable to results in most other provinces. Gary Hannaford, CEO of ICAM, said Manitoba's 37.3 per cent increase in health care expenditures since 1998 was nearly 50 per cent higher than the next highest province, British Columbia. In absolute terms, Manitoba now spends $2,097 per person on health care, which is the second highest amount of all jurisdictions considered in the study. "This may be reflected by the recently released Fraser Institute's report which indicates that Manitoba has the shortest wait times in the country," Hannaford said. "Nevertheless, despite increased spending across the country on health care, the confidence of Canadians in their ability to access health care services has dropped by 6 per cent since 1998 according to the Canadian Council on Social Development, and health care remains a major public concern." He also pointed to a bright spot in the level of per capita personal debt, which, in absolute terms, remains the lowest of all jurisdictions for the third straight year. It is about half the level of the other provinces, except for Saskatchewan. This is due, in large part, to the lower cost of housing which results in lower mortgages in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. During the five-year period studied, average real disposable income in Manitoba increased from $17,799 to $18,585, an overall increase of 4.4 per cent. "While this was certainly a positive development, it was not unique and, in fact, Manitoba's gain in real disposable income was among the lowest of the jurisdictions we studied," Hannaford noted. "Only Ontario showed a slower growth rate." According to the study, two factors appear to have suppressed growth. One is the loss of higher paying, goods-producing jobs resulting in lower average wages. And the second is less dramatic cuts to personal tax levels in Manitoba, relative to other jurisdictions. ICAM President Charles Henaire indicated that "Manitoba has cut its personal taxes per capita by 7.3 per cent over the past five years, however, this is well below Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, which reduced personal taxes by 10.1 to 15.3 per cent over the same time frame." Mr. Hannaford said the small turnaround of 1.2 per cent in goods producing employment in 2003 is welcomed, but will have to be sustained over several years to make a consequential difference. Finally, Manitoba's crime rate continues to be a concern. Manitoba had the second highest increase rising by 6.4 per cent over the last five years and 9.2 per cent in 2003. Only Saskatchewan fared worse in both these time periods.
