Cover Story
Working, Investing, and Living in BC in 2017
By Marlyn Chisholm
In addition to producing the annual BC Check-Up report, which evaluates British Columbia’s
overall economic health, CPABC also produces regional reports each year that measure the
vital stats of the province’s eight development regions. Combined, the provincial and regional
reports provide valuable insight into the province’s current and future well-being and what it
means to work, invest, and live here. Look for a summary of the 2018 BC Check-Up in our
November/December 2018 issue.
BC still in strong shape
After an outstanding four-year run of strong economic growth, it
comes as no surprise that BC was an even better place in which to
work, invest, and live in 2017. Of the seven indicators used in CPABC’s
Regional Check-Up reports, BC saw gains in six: Job creation, unem-
ployment, business bankruptcies, incorporations, educational attain-
ment, and consumer insolvencies all registered improvement in 2017.
Capital investment was the outlier, with the total value of projects in
BC declining by $34.4 billion, or approximately 8%, due largely to the
shelving of some major LNG projects in Northwest BC. 1
In 2017, British Columbia’s real GDP grew by 3.4%. 2 This growth
rate outstripped those of all other provinces except Alberta. The total
number of jobs in BC increased by 87,300 (or +3.7%), the highest
annual growth rate this province has seen in over a decade. At the
same time, our province’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.1%, its
lowest level since 2008. Additionally, steady in-migration and tighter
labour market conditions led to rising wages by the end of 2017. This
helped boost consumer demand in BC, with retail trade growing by
10.6% between December 2016 and December 2017. 3
Exports and manufacturing sales in BC also showed significant
growth in 2017. The value of exports from BC rose by 13%, with coal,
metallic mineral products, and pulp and paper accounting for the
largest absolute gains in value. 4 This increase in the value of exports
was caused, in part, by the relatively low Canadian dollar.
Northwest BC consists of the Nechako and North Coast
1
development regions. Data for these two regions is sometimes
combined, as in tables 1 and 2 of this article.
Estimate from: BC Ministry of Finance and Corporate Relations,
2
Budget and Fiscal Plan, 2018/19 to 2020/21, February 20, 2018.
Statistics Canada, Economic Indicators by Province and Territory,
3
Accessed February 28, 2018.
BC Stats, Annual BC Exports, accessed February 28, 2018.
4
CentralITAlliance/iStock/Thinkstock
16 CPABC in Focus • July/August 2018