Overall economic activity: The CIBCWM Metropolitan Economic Activity Index (2007) is a measure designed to rank economic development in Canada’s largest census metropolitan areas (CMAs). Nine macroeconomic variables and drivers of economic growth comprise the index: population growth, employment growth, unemployment rate, full-time share in total employment, personal bankruptcy rate, business bankruptcy rate, housing starts, MLS housing re-sales, and non-residential building permits. This index provides a consistent way to compare performance with other cities.
In 2011, Niagara was rated an overall low 4.6 on the Metropolitan Activity Index and ranked 18th of the 25 metropolitan areas in Canada in economic development– this was an improvement over being ranked 22nd with a score of 2.4 in 2007 when Niagara’s unemployment rate was ranked 4th highest of all CMAs.
Source: http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/metro_monitor.pdf
