Municipality Climate Adaptation Case Study Report

Figure 1 – Labour Force by Industry, 2006
The construction sector
accounted for almost 13 percent
of the jobs in West Hants,
followed by retail trade (11
percent) and manufacturing (11
percent), and health care and
social services (10.2 percent).
Agriculture and other resourcebased
industries employed 7.4
percent of the labour force.
Educational services (6.2
percent), wholesale trade (4.3
percent) and finance and real
estate (3.5 percent) also
contributed to employment in the
municipality.
A Location Quotient calculation
(see Table 1) indicates that
West Hants has a higher
proportion of its labour force in
construction, agriculture and other resource industries, and transportation and warehousing
industries than Canada as a whole, and is considered specialized in those sectors.
Table 1
Location Quotients > 1.0
West Hants Industry Sectors Compared with Canada, 2006 Census
Experienced Labour Force 15 years and
over by Industry
West Hants Canada Location
Quotient
Total 6,935 16,861,185
Agriculture, forestry, fishing & hunting 335 523,650 1.6
Mining and oil and gas extraction 145 238,815 1.5
Construction 880 1,069,100 2.0
Transportation & warehousing 395 820,195 1.2
Note: Location Quotients were calculated by dividing the proportion of West Hants’ labour force in a particular industry by the
proportion in the same industry nation-wide. A location quotient greater than 1.0 indicates a higher concentration of employment in
that industry than the national average.
Source: Data from Nova Scotia Community Counts web page, Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2006.
As of the 2006 Agricultural Census, there were 164 farms in West Hants, with a total of 225
operators. These farms occupied 13,856 ha (34,238 acres), or about 11 percent of the total
land area of the municipality. Gross farm receipts amounted to $17.5 million annually and total
farm capital had a market value of $82.2 million.
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