Summary

• Past research from the Fraser Institute’s Atlantic Canada Prosperity Initiative has shown that the Atlantic region is generally an economic laggard within Canada.
• When comparing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, a broad measure of income, we see that GDP per person in the rest of the country was 18.4 percent higher than in the Atlantic region in 2019 (the final year before data may have become skewed by the COVID-19 recession).
• This backgrounder focuses primarily on the gap in median employment income between the Atlantic provinces and the other provinces. We find that the four Atlantic provinces had the lowest median employment income levels in Canada in 2019.
• In 2019, median employment income in PEI was $30,100. In Newfoundland & Labrador, it was $32,000. In Nova Scotia, it was $33,100. In New Brunswick, it was $33,500. By comparison, median employment income in the rest of Canada was $36,850.
• We also examine other indicators which similarly suggest a weaker labour market in the Atlantic region than the rest of the country. Specifically, the employment rate in all four provinces has been consistently lower than in the rest of the country over the past decade, while the unemployment rate has been consistently higher.