The region’s urban-rural divide has grown again in 2016. The Atlantic Provinces Economic Council says employment in Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Charlottetown and St. John’s grew 0.5% this year, after gaining 38,000 jobs between 2008-2015. Rural employment went down almost 2% this year, and lost 31,000 jobs between 2008-2015. The think-tank predicts Maritime GDP increases of 1.4% for PEI, 1% for Nova Scotia, and 0.8% for New Brunswick in 2017.