FREDERICTON, NB – The Community Sector is a significant and valuable contributor to the provincial and national economies, according to the results of a study released by Ability New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Association for Community Living (NBACL). The Community Sector represents the combined actions of non-profit and charitable organizations.
“It is past time to change the conversation about the Community Sector in New Brunswick,” said Haley Flaro, Executive Director of Ability New Brunswick. “Each organization is an employer, an investor, a beneficiary of economically valuable volunteering activity, a coordinator of financial transactions, a distributor of products and services, and more.”
The report found that New Brunswick’s Community Sector in 2019 was responsible for 55,000 employment positions, representing 15 per cent of the provincial labour force, as well as $3.7 billion in annual GDP contributions. In addition, volunteering activity within the sector was responsible for $979 million in economic value in 2013, the most recent year with data available.
The report also highlighted the income disparity between men and women. The Community Sector employs far more women than men, with 11,601 women and 4,437 men in New Brunswick employed outside the government sub-sector. Yet women continue to earn a lower average hourly wage of $17.27, compared to $22.62 for their male counterparts.
The Community Sector has often been considered a “last-mile” provider of services, programs and products of fundamental necessity to people and communities. The sector bridges the gap between community needs and government and business sectors.
“There is value in the services just as there is value in the acts of providing these services — and this is something that has long been overlooked,” said Flaro. “The value that the Community Sector brings to our communities, our province, and our country, both in terms of the services provided and their economic contributions, is unquestionable.”
About Ability New Brunswick (Ability NB)
Ability New Brunswick empowers the independence and full community participation of persons throughout New Brunswick who have a mobility disability. Ability NB is an autonomous, community-based, provincial non-profit organization governed by a volunteer Board of Directors.
About the New Brunswick Association for Community Living (NBACL)
NBACL is a provincial, non-profit organization that works on behalf of children and adults with an intellectual or developmental disability and their families. NBACL leads in the creation of opportunities for individuals with an intellectual or developmental disability and their families to live full and valued lives in all aspects of society.
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Media contact:
Aleisha Bosch
Manager of Marketing and Communications
New Brunswick Association for Community Living
abosch@nbacl.nb.ca
