NovaKnowledge group, which tracks the province's export-oriented economy, released its annual report card Monday. It blames the lack of financing as the reason why more companies don't stick around.

During the past 10 years, the number of companies getting out of business has equalled the number of firms getting in.

"We are creating a lot of jobs, but they aren't the high-paying jobs," says David Quinlivan-Hall, chairman of the group. "The challenge here is to increase our exports, particularly exports of value-added goods."

When it comes to exports, Nova Scotia's growth rate is the second worst in the country.

Most of the new jobs created by the private sector tend to be in the area of services to other businesses, or in retail and tourism.

Meanwhile, data collected by NovaKnowledge suggests high school graduates can expect to earn only half as much money as people with a university degree or some post-secondary training.