Economic Outlook 2019

St. John’s is expected to have the fastest real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of any major Canadian metropolitan area in 2019.

Economic Outlook 2019 reports that economic growth in the St. John’s Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is expected to improve in 2019 with real GDP forecast to grow by 7.1%, largely due to increased capital investment in the West White Rose offshore oil development and Voisey’s Bay underground mine projects.

“This report gives us a better sense of how the local economy will improve throughout 2019 and provides analysis of local labour market trends,” says Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’Leary, Council Lead for Economic Development, Tourism & Culture. “An in-depth feature on employment shows that employment in health care and social assistance ranked as the largest employer in the St. John’s CMA in 2018, increasing 23.5% from 2008 to 2018, reflective of the demand for personal and health care in an aging population.”

Retail trade is expected to increase, growing by 1.1% to reach almost $4 billion. The unemployment rate is expected to decrease by 0.7 percentage points, since the increase in employment is expected to be larger than the increase in labour force.
Household income and retail trade are expected to increase significantly throughout 2019 compared to last year. Employment is expected to increase in line with major project investment, as well.

Note: The St. John’s Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is a Statistics Canada geographically defined area including St. John’s and neighbouring communities. Data prepared by Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Finance (Economic Research and Analysis Division) and the City of St. John's Department of Community Services (Economic Development, Culture and Partnerships Division), July 2019.

Economic Development, Culture and Partnerships Division provides a variety of economic and statistical information, including an Economic Review/Outlook twice a year in addition to a monthly Economic Update. These reports and additional data can be found in the publications section at www.stjohns.ca.