News

JDI Roundtable news

December 2020

• Early survey data shows NB manufacturers score high on openness to change, low on technology adoption

November 2020

• How can New Brunswick increase private investment? Looking to the past for answers

November 2020 newsletter 

October 2020

• UNB student-led project measures health of NB economy
• Understanding investment in New Brunswick manufacturing: Capital stocks

October 2020 newsletter 

September 2020

• We’re conducting a survey on manufacturing competitiveness in New Brunswick 
• State of innovation in New Brunswick is improving, research shows – but it still has a long way to go
• How easy is it to do business in New Brunswick? 
• Increasing potential of the New Brunswick forestry sector
• Should we care about rising power costs for large manufacturers? New research shows the impact on GDP and investment
• New Brunswick risks losing major employers if it can’t address labour supply issues

September newsletter 

August 2020

• New Brunswick manufacturing: From clipboard to automation – manufacturers move from good to GREAT companies
• How can we save the economy in Northeast New Brunswick? Findings from the 2020 Northern Vision Nord Symposium
• Manufacturing in a COVID-19 world

July 2020

• New Brunswick manufacturing: A change in culture required?
• The manufacturing industry in New Brunswick - Part 1: Geographic and sector distribution
• The manufacturing industry in New Brunswick - Part 2: Distribution and employment by firm size
• Summary of COVID-19 guidelines for NB manufacturers

Commentaries

Dr. Herb Emery, the JDI Roundtable on Manufacturing Competitiveness in New Brunswick program chair, regularly contributes to regional and national media on various topics addressing the current economic state of New Brunswick and the Maritimes.

2020 commentaries

• Can ‘smart socialism’ keep our airports alive?
• Wither the North
• Province needs innovative response to reopen borders
• We've given up the lead on business innovation
• Recessions don’t have silver linings
• New Brunswick is not interested in positive change
• Forgotten Maritimes must drive our own growth
• Our jobs recovery is built on teenage labour
• Why do we keep driving away prosperity?
• A ‘Turning Point’ for N.B.
• Thinking bigger on local procurement
• How public policy destroyed northeast N.B.’s export sector
• Economic recovery depends on province’s manufacturing sector
• COVID presents a fork in the road on job training
• Trump is not wrong – economists have no idea
• It’s a gamble that layoffs are better than changes to wages
• Province will have a long road to economic recovery
• Anything we can do to bring home ‘the departed’?
• Higgs’s speech could be a game changer for province
• Maritime Iron shows province has divided mind on industry

2019 commentaries

• Here’s how universities can help on jobs
• Can anything save N.B.’s economy?
• Why N.B.’s business climate matters
• What’s unique about N.B. manufacturing?
• No mystery why N.B.’s economy struggles
• How to address an aging population in New Brunswick
• The ‘cost disease’ of our economic illness
• Why N.B.’s trade deficit matters
• N.B. needs to move ‘closer’ to export markets
• How can public policy help New Brunswick manufacturers?
• Where are the robots when we need them?
• Is culture or policy responsible for productivity?
• Inevitable decline of manufacturing a myth
• Public policy at fault for labour shortage
• The challenge of greater gas imports
• N.B. doesn’t have a single economy story
• Policy must reflect ‘boom and bust’ cycles

Previous commentaries

• New Brunswick would be crazy to tax machinery and equipment
• Lessons for N.B. in GM’s plant closure
• The ‘lost boys’ of New Brunswick
• Economic challenges are no mystery
• N.B. wages are low, but labour costs are high
• What a no-growth N.B. would look like
• Province’s risky bet against natural resources
• Immigration alone cannot grow economy
• After Energy East: What’s next for N.B.?
• Back to the future: job growth plan draws from past success