Growth Strategy Helps Put Nova Scotians Back to Work

PREMIER'S OFFICE--Growth Strategy Helps Put Nova Scotians Back to Work

New employment figures show that the province's economic growth strategy is working for Nova Scotians, said Premier John Hamm.

The monthly employment report from Statistics Canada released today, Sept. 6, shows that 6,000 more Nova Scotians were working in August than in the previous month, resulting in an unemployment rate of 9.7 per cent. Since July 1999, 20,000 more Nova Scotians have found jobs.

"Three years ago, we told Nova Scotians our government would create a strategy to put people back to work," said Premier Hamm. "These figures are proof that we are delivering on our commitment to successfully work with the private sector to build a climate for jobs and growth in this province."

Most of the new jobs created in the last month were full-time. The report also indicates that Nova Scotians found work in every region of the province, with unemployment rates falling in each of those areas as a result.

Following extensive public consultation, the government released Opportunities for Prosperity in the fall of 2000, the province's first economic growth strategy in a decade.