Living in regional BC
Educational attainment
Since 2000, BC’s labour force has continued its trend towards a higher level of educational attainment. In 2013, the share of BC’s labour force
aged 25 to 54 with at least a post-secondary certificate or diploma rose by 1.5 ppt to 68.1%—its highest rate ever.
With the exception of the Cariboo, educational attainment in the labour force improved in all jurisdictions in 2013. The greatest increases took
place in the Mainland/Southwest and Northeast, where the indicator rose by 2.1 ppt. Educational attainment rose by 1.7 ppt in the ThompsonOkanagan, while the Kootenay Development Region and Northwest BC experienced an increase of 0.4 ppt. The Vancouver Island/Coast experienced
a negligible increase of 0.1 ppt, while educational attainment in the Cariboo declined by 3.1 ppt.
Consumer insolvencies
The consumer insolvency rate, defined as the number of personal financial insolvencies per 1,000 adult population, is an indicator that reflects
the collective outcome of economic change, consumer behaviour, and/or credit market developments such as a hike in interest rates. In previous
years, we have focused on bankruptcy data only, but due to provincial growth in the number of consumer proposals, we now include both
indicators in our discussion.4
The provincial consumer insolvency rate rose by 28% between 2008 and 2013, with the greatest spike occurring in 2009 (at the time of the
global financial crisis), but it has dipped to lower levels since that spike. In 2013, BC’s consumer insolvency rate remained at the same rate as in
the previous two years: 3.2 per 1,000 adult population.
The one-year trend in insolvency varied widely throughout BC. In the North Coast and Northeast, insolvencies declined significantly, dropping
by 40.9% and 29.2%, respectively. The Thompson-Okanagan and Cariboo saw smaller reductions, while the Kootenays saw no change in this
indicator at all. The insolvency rate rose slightly in the Vancouver Island/Coast (2.6%) and Mainland/Southwest (3.6%), but Nechako recorded
the largest increase of 11.1%.
A closer look at the insolvency data shows that most Development Regions are enjoying lower bankruptcy rates since 2009. On the other hand,
most have also seen an increase in the number of consumer proposals.
Table 4: Annual Consumer Insolvency Rates per 1,000 Population Aged 18 Years and older
in All Development Regions, 2008 to 2013
Percentage point
change
Region
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
5-Year
2008-13
1-Year
2012-13
Cariboo
Kootenay
Mainland/Southwest
Nechako
North Coast
Northeast
Thompson-Okanagan
Vancouver Island/Coast
3.7
1.7
2.4
2.5
1.8
2.2
2.7
3.0
5.3
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.1
3.0
4.4
4.2
4.7
3.5
3.1
4.3
3.6
4.4
4.5
4.0
4.0
2.9
2.9
2.3
1.9
2.2
4.2
3.8
4.0
3.3
2.8
1.8
2.2
2.4
4.0
3.8
3.9
3.3
2.9
2.0
1.3
1.7
3.8
3.9
5.4%
94.1%
20.8%
-20.0%
-27.8%
-22.7%
40.7%
30.0%
-2.5%
0.0%
3.6%
11.1%
-40.9%
-29.2%
-5.0%
2.6%
British Columbia
2.5
3.7
3.5
3.2
3.2
3.2
28.0%
0.0%
Note: Insolvency rate calculations include both bankruptcies and proposals.
Sources: Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada and Statistics Canada
Full reports available online
Full versions of the regional Check-Up reports are available at www.bccheckup.com. For more information about the reports, contact Vivian Tse,
manager of public affairs for the ICABC, at [email protected].
Marlyn Chisholm is the principal of Chisholm Consulting and the lead economist on CPABC’s annual BC Check-Up report, a summary of which
will appear in the next issue of CPABC in Focus.
consumer proposal is an alternative to bankruptcy whereby the indebted consumer negotiates to repay only a part of their debt. This allows
A
4
the debtor to keep their assets as long as they continue to make payments on any loans secured by those assets, such as a home mortgage.
CPABC