Five things that matter a lot

five things that matter a lot pic 1
Chief Economist at ATB Financial Todd Hirsch presented Alberta’s 2019 economy forecast on Jan. 15 to roughly 50 audience members at Crazy Pasta. One of the main points he focused on was creating diversity in the province and finding alternatives to issues the province has struggled with in the past. Implementing diversity is something that President of the Chestermere Chamber of Commerce Michelle Eldjarnson, agrees with and is eager to get involved with. Photo by Emily Rogers

2019 economy forecast testing Albertan's resiliency

five things that matter a lot pic 1
Chief Economist at ATB Financial Todd Hirsch presented Alberta’s 2019 economy forecast on Jan. 15 to roughly 50 audience members at Crazy Pasta. One of the main points he focused on was creating diversity in the province and finding alternatives to issues the province has struggled with in the past. Implementing diversity is something that President of the Chestermere Chamber of Commerce Michelle Eldjarnson, agrees with and is eager to get involved with. Photo by Emily Rogers

A Calgary Economist presented one thing that matters a little, and five things that matter a lot for Alberta’s economy in 2019 on Jan. 15.

ATB Financial Chief Economist Todd Hirsch’s presented to approximately 50 people at Crazy Pasta.

Hirsch said that while still growing, Alberta’s gross domestic product (GDP) is lower than normal at 2.1 per cent.

“It’s a modest rate of growth, the province is used to growing four, five, some years six per cent,” Hirsch said.

“Coming out of that nasty recession, we still find in the province that we’re spinning our wheels a little bit,” Hirsch said.

He added, the rate of growth has been slow enough that it’s not creating the jobs needed to decrease the unemployment rate.

The jobs that were lost in the energy sector are not coming back to the same degree, but there are jobs coming back in other sectors. However, those jobs don’t pay as well Hirsch said.

Many industries in Alberta are thriving, including agriculture, tourism, and the technology sector.

“The problem with all of those sectors is that compared to the energy sector, they are small and jobs in those sectors don’t often pay as well,” Hirsch said.

He added, the five things that will determine how the year will unwind include settling the Trans Mountain Pipeline disputes, creating diversity, supporting artificial intelligence, bridging the gap between income and opportunity, and regulating the global market that Canada is a part of.

“If the pipeline goes ahead that will go some way in lifting the optimism in the energy patch. If it doesn’t, it’s going to be a bit of a different world.

“We need a pipeline, we also need to be pushing hard for other alternatives,” Hirsch said.

He added, the province requires more economic diversity.

“If we do get the Trans Mountain Pipeline that actually works against diversity, it really keeps us in that track where oil and gas is the main show.

“Without a pipeline all of a sudden diversity comes more urgent and it happens organically,” Hirsh said.

For President of the Chestermere Chamber of Commerce Michelle Eldjarnson, bringing more diversity to the economy is a must.

“Taking away, I absolutely agree with the diversification that we need to be involved in,” Eldjarnson said.

For Eldjarnson, it is now a matter of bringing diversification on board and figuring out how to template it to make it successful.

However, diversity is not all that job sectors need to start implementing, Hirsch said.

Every job sector in Alberta has been affected by artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics.

“It’s not that everyone is going to lose their job, in fact a lot of jobs might become far more rewarding and productive, if we can get the robot to do the repetitive work,” Hirsch said.

The uptake in robotics in Alberta’s energy sector is why the industry remains marginally profitable, Hirsch added, it’s made the energy sector more efficient and productive.

“I would not say today there is any industry that is completely immune to what is taking place in artificial intelligence.

“Workers are going to have to be very-very flexible, very adaptable it is going to be a sink or swim for workers around the world,” Hirsch said.

He added, the workers who will sink are those who are specialized in one specific skill, with no ability to move outside of that.

“It almost doesn’t matter what skill it is, eventually a robot is going to be able to do it faster and better,” he said.

Hirsch added, Albertan’s should focus their worry from artificial intelligence to the disparity of income and opportunity that is affecting the society which in turn is then weakening the economy.

If the society is disrupted, people have different levels of income and opportunities, the economy can no longer function well.

Hirsh added, there are a lot of dominos staking up right now in world trading, and it wouldn’t take much to tip over, possibly a United States recession, or an intensified trade war between China and the United States.

“We have no control over resource prices which are set globally, we have a lot at stake,” Hirsch said.

Despite 2019 off to a sluggish start, the economy is still growing, Hirsch said.

“We’re still moving forward, but we’re not really seeing the uptick in activity yet, a lot of that has to do with the energy sector,” Hirsch said.

He added, “If the pipeline goes ahead, that will be a shot in the arm for the energy sector. If the pipeline faces more roadblocks, things will start to get worse again.”

The province is slowly overcoming challenges, Hirsch added, there are green shoots popping up, it’s not an entire forest yet but the province is moving in the right direction.

“Regardless of the challenges that we always see in our economy, Albertans are resourceful, it’s not to say it’s easy, but we will always figure our way around this,” Hirsch said.

He added, “Albertan’s by nature are hardworking optimistic people, it’s not to say the economy is simple right now, but we will always find a up.”

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to Canada's local news from their platforms, Anchor Media Inc encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this site and downloading the Rogue Radio App. Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to info@anchormedia.ca.

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Staff Writer

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, Anchor Media Inc encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this site and downloading the Rogue Radio App. Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to info@anchormedia.ca


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