Halifax shows jump in popuation growth
Of all the cities in Canada over the last 20 years, the greatest population growth by percentage in one year took place in Halifax and Moncton, both of those jumps taking place in 2022.
The 2023 Halifax Index, an annual report on economic and community progress, showed Halifax grew by 4.5 per cent, or 20,713 people. Moncton’s growth was 5.4 per cent.
The index compares Halifax in the categories of people, labour, investment, real estate, communities, affordability, and living to nine other cities - St. John’s, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener-cambridge-waterloo, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.
Population growth in Halifax was split 60-40 between newcomers from outside Canada and newcomers from other provinces.
Ian Munro, economist with Halifax Partnership, said the rapid growth is a good thing, with one qualification.
“If you look long-term, big picture, we need the growth, we need the people to fill the jobs and form the tax base, especially as more and more of our older population spins off into retirement, so we need it,” Munro said. “It does come with growing pains, we’re very clear about that in the index. When you suddenly have an influx of people, some of the supports they need have lags. So, we have a lot of people looking for a family doctor, we have very low apartment vacancy and rising rents, and rising housing prices. We all know there are housing issues here. I think that’s in part because we were, as a society, caught off guard by how well we did in attracting people here.”
Munro said new people arriving quickly is good for people in the restaurant business or retail, for example, who can adapt quickly.
“But housing you can’t turn on overnight, so there are pressures, but there are lots of smart people working on them,” he said. “Lots of other cities are dealing with the same issues. We need the growth and I think we’re going to be getting better and better at keeping pace with the infrastructure we need to go with it.”
Halifax added 11,600 jobs in 2022, just down from the record 12,300 set the year before.
With the labour force growing by just 5,100, job vacancies remain a challenge.
“At the highest level, the employment/labour force numbers showed a good solid increase this year,” said Munro. “By percentage rate, it dropped a bit because we had such a bounce back in 2021 from the shutdowns. It’s a good sign that our businesses and employers are doing well and they’re poised for growth and looking for people. That’s why we have these vacant jobs. Of course, at the back end, you have people in their 50s and 60s and 70s retiring.”
The Halifax Index surveyed residents of the city and reports 83.5 per cent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with Halifax as a place to live.
Munro said the people who are not satisfied point to a common issue.
“I think I can safely say that the vast majority were in that combination of housing affordability and housing availability. Those that are struggling, it’s largely because the cost of living has really jumped over the last 12 to 18 months and especially if you’re at the lower end of the income spectrum, that makes life difficult for you. When it’s your rent you can’t afford, that’s a whole extra layer of pressure,” he said. “If you dial back to, say, 2015 or 2016, it’s maybe understandable why there wasn’t a great deal of housing development going on, or new road construction or transit construction that might go with it. Because at that time, people maybe didn’t believe it was possible that we’ve had this kind of population growth.”