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March 25, 2025VALUE ADDED IN EXPORTS, 2021 Statistics Canada has updated its estimates of value added and employment embodied in Canadian exports. With heightened interest in Nova Scotia's trade with the US, this analysis further breaks down exports and imports into the US and the rest of the world
Value-added represents the contribution of labour and capital to the production process. Its components are labour income, gross operating surplus (or profits and depreciation) and taxes net of subsidies on production. The sum of value-added by all industries plus taxes net of subsidies on products is equal to GDP.
Exports only generate income (GDP) within Nova Scotia when value is added to either the domestically-produced or imported outputs. However, exports are typically reported on a gross basis, including the cost of imported inputs. Statistics Canada’s supply and use tables allow for the calculation of the proportion of exports that represent value added, and therefore, income generated within the provincial economy.
Statistics Canada's estimates calculate a value added amount within each sector that generates the exports. Statistics Canada further estimates the amount of value added created by upstream sectors within a province that supply an exporting sector. Statistics Canada also estimates the number of jobs associated with exports - both within exporting sectors and upstream sectors that supply them.
These estimates allow examination of the relative significance of trade for each province and sector. As the data are constructed using supply and use tables, there is a considerable lag in their production and they have only been updated to 2021 (along with revisions to prior years).
Overall, Nova Scotia's economy generated the least amount of exports (scaled to total employment in all industries) at $17,143 per worker. National exports per worker were $37,273 with the highest values (by considerable margins over the next highest exporters) in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Nova Scotia's exports to the US in 2021 amounted to $10,175 per worker - also the lowest among provinces. Exports to the US per worker were $26,573 nationally with the highest values in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Nova Scotia's exports to the US amounted to 59.4% of 2021 exports - the second lowest share after British Columbia. New Brunswick reported the highest share of US exports in total exports.
Nova Scotia's exports to the rest of the world outside the US amounted to $6,968 per worker - 3rd lowest among provinces after New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Canada's exports per worker to the rest of the world amounted to $10,700 with the highest value in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nova Scotia's exports per worker rebounded with a 10.0% gain (following 2020's pandemic-related decline) to match their levels from 2019. All provinces with the exceptions of Nova Scotia and Ontario substantially exceeded their 2019 exports per capita in 2021.
Nova Scotia's US exports per worker were up 12.7% while per worker exports to the rest of the world rose 6.3%.
Of the total value added in the economy, Nova Scotia relied the least on exports to generate value added, with 10.2% of provincial value added (ie: GDP) accounted for by value added in exports (either directly or in upstream in supplier industries within the province). Newfoundland and Labrador generated the largest portion of its provincial value added from exports at 37.0%. The share of provincial value added created from exports sectors was also higher for Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Maritime provinces and Manitoba reported the lowest shares of GDP accounted for by value added in exports.
Exports to the US made up 5.8% of Nova Scotia's value added - the lowest among provinces. Alberta's GDP had the highest reliance on US exports.
The share of Nova Scotia's value added attributable to exports outside the US was 4.4%. This was lower than the national average, but above Alberta, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland and Labrador had (by far) the highest portion of provincial value added attributable to non-US exports.
Despite its relatively low export intensity, the amount of direct value added measured as a share of total exports in Nova Scotia (42.4%) was just below the national average (45.0%). Counting the value added in exports created in upstream supplier industries of the exporting sector, 58.2% of Nova Scotia's exports represented value added that generated income within the province. New Brunswick's value added share of exports was lower because of the large value of imported content in its sizable petroleum refining industry.
Nova Scotia's exports to the US had a slightly lower value added portion (40.4% direct, 55.7% including upstream) while exports to the rest of the world had a slightly higher value added portion (45.4% direct, 61.7% inlcuding upstream).
Nova Scotia's employment was comparatively less dependent on international exports as only 7.0% of jobs were attributable directly to exports. Including upstream jobs embodied in exports, Nova Scotia's share of employment connected to exports was 9.8% (lowest among provinces). The national average share of employment from exports was 14.9%. The highest share was in Ontario at 16.5%.
Only Newfoundland and Labrador reported a lower share of employment embodied in US exports than Nova Scotia's 5.6%. Nationally, 10.0% of jobs were dependent on US exports with the highest shares in Alberta and Ontario.
Nova Scotia's exports to the rest of the world embodied 4.2% of provincial employment. Nationally, 4.9% of employment was connected to global exports outside the US with the highest share in Saskatchewan and the lowest shares in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
The amount of export value added per worker (directly within exporting industries) was $103,636 for Nova Scotia, well below the national average of $183,701. The national average of direct value added per worker was much for higher oil-producing provinces where export values are high relative to low labour intensity for oil and gas industries.
The direct value added per worker in Nova Scotia's US and non-US exports was little different from the overall average.
Including upstream value added to exports and upstream employment, Nova Scotia's export value added per worker was slightly lower at $101,562 per worker. However, export value added per worker in provinces with resource-intensive economies was considerably lower after including upstream workers as upstream industries are more labour-intensive than oil and gas extraction.
As with direct value added per worker, total (direct+upstream) value added per worker in Nova Scotia's US and non-US exports was little different from the overall average.
Calculating the number of workers required to generate $1 million in exports offers another perspective on the relationship between exports and employment. Nova Scotia's exports were the most labour intensive in the country requiring 5.7 jobs to generate $1 million in exports. Nationally, it took 4.0 workers to generate $1 million in exports with the lowest labour intensity in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The labour-intensity of Nova Scotia's exports to the US was slightly lower than its exports to the rest of the world.
The value added in exports data also provides the most detailed information on the value of exports from all industries, including services. Of the total value of $8.17 billion in exports from Nova Scotia in 2021, the largest values were from manufacturing, notably seafood products ($1,433.1 million, not including unprocessed), rubber products ($1,138.0 million) and fishing/aquaculture products ($904.4 million). Transportation services ($598.1 million), wholesale trade ($601.6 million) and forest products ($520.6 million) contributed the next largest exports.
From its exports, Nova Scotia generated $4.75 billion in added value, including the exporting industry as well as upstream industries within the province.
The chart below illustrates the amount of value added generated within each exporting industry as well as the value added generated in upstream industries.
Nova Scotia's exports to the US were $4.85 billion in 2021 including $2.70 billion in value added.
Nova Scotia's largest exports to the US were rubber products, processed seafood, wholesale trade, fishing/aquaculture, forest products and transportation/warehousing.
Nova Scotia's exports to the rest of the world outside the US amounted to $3.32 billion, of which $2.05 billion was value added. Nova Scotia's exports to the rest of the world were more concentrated in processed seafood, fishing/aquaculture. transportation/warehousing and university education.
Statistics Canada estimates that in 2021 33,468 jobs were directly attributable to exports from all industries. Including upstream industries, 46,794 jobs in Nova Scotia depended on exports. Export-dependent employment was highest for Nova Scotia's seafood, wholesale trade, transportation/warehousing, fishing/aquaculture, rubber products, universities, forest products and business support/call centre industries.
Nova Scotia's employment attributable to US exports was more concentrated in wholesale trade, seafood processing, rubber products and transportation/warehousing.
Employment generated by Nova Scotia's exports to the rest of the world was concentrated in seafood processing, universities, fishing/aquaculture and transportation/warehousing.
With fewer imported inputs, exports of services generally had higher value added portions of total exports than exports of goods. This was the same for both US and non-US exports from Nova Scotia's industries.
Measured by the share of total employment directly attributable to exports, the most export intensive employers in Nova Scotia were seafood product manufacturing, rubber product manufacturing, fishing/aquaculture and electronics manufacturing.
Statistics Canada's value added in exports also provides data on imports by sector as well, allowing the assessment of a trade balance by industry. Nova Scotia's imports are heavily concentrated in manufactured products, notably: automotive, electronics, chemical/pharmaceutical, machinery, metals, food and refined petroleum. With relatively little production in these industries (except food), Nova Scotia has a substantial trade deficit in these products, with imports in excess of exports. Nova Scotia's products and services with trade surplus include: agriculture, fishing/aquaculture, seafood processing, forest products, rubber products, wholesale trade, transportation/warehousing, accommodation/food services and university education.
Nova Scotia had a trade surplus of $1.74 billion with the US in 2021. Nova Scotia had sizable surpluses in rubber products, processed seafood, wholesale trade, fishing/aquaculture, forest products, transportation, plastics and other food products (such as baked goods). It was in these industries that Nova Scotia reported its largest exports to the US. Nova Scotia's largest imports from the US were in aerospace/parts, petroleum/coal manufacturing (including refineries), electronics, computer systems design, business support/call centres and information/cultural industries (including broadcasting). Nova Scotia's largest trade deficits with the US were in aerospace, refined petroleum/coal products, electronics, automotive, information/culture and computer system design.
Nova Scotia' exported $3.32 billion to the rest of the world outside the US while it imported $12.13 billion for a trade deficit of $8.8 billion.
Nova Scotia's largest exports to the rest of the world (outside the US) were in processed seafood, fishing/aquaculture, transportation and university education. These industries also accounted for Nova Scotia's largest trade surpluses with the rest of the world.
Nova Scotia's largest imports (and trade deficits) from the rest of the world were in auto manufacturing, chemical/pharmaceutical manufacturing, electronics, machinery and other manufacturing (including furniture).
Statistics Canada: Table 12-10-0100-01 Value added in exports, by industry, provincial and territorial
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