4.3 Overview of Exhaustees
by Economic Zone

HIGHLIGHTS
This section profiles the current number of those eligible for TAGS(1) throughout the Economic Zones and also shows TAGS clients as a percent of the population 15 years of age and over by Zone in map form. Appendices 5.2 to 5.4 also list the number of total TAGS clients and processing and harvesting workers who were scheduled to fall from the program each year until 1999.
       
Figure 5 shows the number of eligible TAGS clients by Economic Zone. The map reveals a large proportion of TAGS clients reside in Zones 14, 15, 16 and 17 (almost half of the total number eligible).
       
Zones 6 and 20 also reflect a high participation in TAGS. About 14 percent of all those eligible for benefits reside in these regions.
       
The remaining clients are widely dispersed throughout the other 14 Economic Zones. In 8 of the 14 areas, 700 or fewer participants are found. Between 701 and 1,400 clients reside in each of the remaining areas.
       
Only 960 TAGS clients are found in Economic Zone 19 which includes almost all of the St. John's Metropolitan Area, the most populated area with the most diversified Provincial labour market.
       
Figure 6 shows the number of TAGS clients as a proportion of the population 15 years of age and over by Economic Zone. These data clearly contrast the relative regional reliance upon the fishery.
       
Zone 4, which has boundaries the same as CCS 10B (Labrador East Coast), has the largest concentration of clients as a percent of the Zone source population. In this Zone, 21 percent of the source population are eligible for TAGS.
       
Economic Zones 5, 6 and 20 are also relatively heavily reliant upon the fishery with between 16 and 20 percent of their population 15 years of age and over eligible to receive TAGS benefits.
       
All the remaining Zones have 15 percent or less of the source population eligible for TAGS. The lowest proportions are found in Zones which either contain larger urban areas or are located in the northern and interior parts of Labrador.
       
The relative number of each type of worker in the Zones has a marked geographic component. In all Zones along the north and north eastern coastline (with the exception of Zones 1 and 2), harvesters account for 41 to 76 percent of TAGS clients. In almost all other Zones in areas to the south of Bonavista Bay, harvesters represent 41 percent or less of the total number of TAGS clients. The exception to this situation is Zone 18 where 45 percent of clients are harvesters.
       
The largest decline in the number of clients in 1997 as a proportion of total clients will be experienced by Economic Zone 4. About 27 percent of the 590 clients will exhaust their benefits (see Appendix 8.0 for data regarding the number initially scheduled to exhaust TAGS by month).
       
The areas that would be most heavily impacted by the ending of TAGS would be those most reliant on TAGS, as illustrated by the map. The degree of impact, however, will be determined by activity in the fishery and the economic situation in areas at the time TAGS ends.
       


1. Figures in this section include only clients who are currently eligible. However, data by year include clients who have exhausted their benefits.

 

Figure 5

 

Figure 6