Archive for March, 2010
Greenback takes an abrupt turn for the better and the loonie keeps climbing
The U.S.
Alberta’s economy has definitely become more energized
Given that Alberta’s unemployment rate (6.9%) is less than half a percentage point below the 14-year high that it reached in August 2009 and total employment in the province is almost one percent lower than it was twelve months ago, the Wild Rose Province is still in dire straits. Having said this, there are clear signs that the province is gradually emerging from its most severe downturn since 1982.
RSMeans’ dollars-per-square-foot construction costs: four institutional types of structure
Accompanying this report are tables and charts based on RSMeans’ measures of dollar-per-square-foot construction costs. The results for 25 major cities are shown for four institutional building types
Building Deconstruction
A component of the “Green” movement is deconstruction. Rather than demolishing a structure and delivering the debris to landfill, deconstruction provides for the careful removal and reuse or recycling of building materials
Further investment needed to maintain recent strong productivity advances
Consistent with what has happened in the very early stages of the three most recent recoveries, labour productivity in Canada exhibited a very strong 1.4% quarter-over-quarter (1.1% year-over-year) increase in the final quarter of 2009, the second quarter of the current recovery. Moreover, the increase in Q4/2009 productivity was, according to Statistics Canada, significantly stronger than occurred in the early stages of the two most recent recoveries in 1992 and 2002.
