Summary: StatsCan Report on B.C. Economy

May 12 , 2006

VICTORIA – StatsCan released its study The West Coast Boom yesterday, confirming British Columbia's economy has bounced back from the “doldrums in the 1990s.”

The StatsCan study says “B.C. is ideally positioned to continue to grow. It has rightfully earned its reputation as Canada’s gateway to the booming Asian economy.”

• After leading Canada’s economic growth from 1984 to 1990, B.C. fell behind in the 1990s.
  • B.C.’s real GDP per capita fell from 8 per cent above the average in the rest of Canada in 1992 to 8 per cent below by 2001.
  • Since 2001, real GDP growth in B.C. has averaged 3.4 per cent.
• Jobs outside of Vancouver fell between 1996 and 2001. But since then, they have risen 10.4 per cent, leading B.C.’s revival.
  • Unemployment is at a record low, and is most evident outside of Vancouver, where the rate has fallen from near double-digits in 2002 to 6 per cent last year, lower than previous lows of the early 1990s.
• Starting in 1997, B.C.’s population growth began to slow markedly. The largest reason for the slowdown was fewer people in the rest of Canada migrating to B.C.
  • This net inflow slowed noticeably after 1994, turning to a net outflow in 1998.
• Since 2002, full-time jobs have risen by 12 per cent while part-time positions have fallen almost 3 per cent.
  • This is a reversal from the 1990s, when part-time jobs grew at twice the rate for full-time.
• Investment started taking off in 2003, increasing by $4 billion since then to a projected $17.8 billion this year.
• British Columbia is now less dependent on commodity exports to the American market than the rest of country, while our exports to Asia (at 24 per cent) are nearly five times greater than the 5 per cent rate in the rest of Canada.
• The study The West Coast Boom is available for free online at: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060511/d060511a.htm