Shipbuilding contract will have wide-reaching benefits: economist
Posted Oct 20, 2011 05:24:43 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
With the procurement of a $25-billion navy shipbuilding contract comes with the promise of an economic boom for Nova Scotia and spinoffs in several industries.
The president and CEO of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies warns the annual investment will be about $1 billion dollars over 25 to 30 years and will initially only effect the shipbuilding industry.
“It’s going to be very targeted,” Charles Cirtwell told News 95.7. “Folks at the shipyard, people who sell things to the shipyard the folks who sell the construction materials to expand the shipyard. All of them are going to benefit.”
But it doesn’t stop there.
“They’re going to put money in banks, they’re going to buy cars, they’re going to rent apartments, they’re going to buy newer houses,” Cirtwell added. “So, it’s going to have a nice spinoff that way.”
It’s expected every sector from retail stores, restaurants, grocery stores and the auto sector will benefit as more people spend more money.
The contract is expected to create 11,500 new jobs over the three decades and that promise has already had an effect on students planning careers in welding and sheet metal fabrication.
“I heard about the shipbuilding contract and I just thought it would be a great opportunity to get involved in that,” one welding student told Global News. “I just thought there would be good opportunities when I got out of school.”
The Nova Scotia Community College told Global News the college has recently expanded its metal fabrication program, and may expand further if required by the shipbuilding industry.
“If industry tells us ‘we need more,’ than we look at it, see if we can do it,” said a college official. “Sometimes it means we need funding. Sometimes it means a schedule change.”
The need for workers will mean more young people will be graduating and staying in the province.
The Nova Scotia Home Builders Association is anticipating building 400 new homes to accommodate the growing workforce.
“Think about how many people are employed,” Paul Pettipas told News 95.7. “That supports the 27,000 people who we employ in the residential construction industry. Really, this is good from one end of the province to the other.”
The influx of work is expected to raise the province’s gross domestic product by 2.4 per cent and bring in more than $351 million dollars in annual disposable income.
