BC is Growing | News

[Rhino]

Province’s population surpasses 4.3 million


Jan 17 2007


B.C. saw a net increase of more than 2,000 people migrating from other parts of Canada in the third quarter of 2006, as Lotus Land and Alberta were the only two provinces to attract more people than moved away.

From July to September, 21,867 people moved to B.C. and 19,742 moved to other provinces, for a net increase of 2,125 people, according to BC Stats.

Alberta finished the quarter far ahead, with net in-migration of 24,535 people.

By the end of September, B.C.’s population grew to 4,310,452, an increase of 1.2 per cent since September of 2005.

B.C. attracted 42.6 per cent of all business immigrants to Canada during the third quarter, with most coming from the Asia Pacific region.

Full-time employment in B.C. jumped by 21,200 jobs in December, according to the Statistics Canada labour-force survey.

The number of part-time jobs declined at the same time, meaning a net increase of 9,900 workers in the province compared to November.

The December job gains were mainly outside Greater Vancouver, with increases in Abbotsford, Victoria and the Kootenays.

The increase capped a strong employment year for the province, with an average of 2.2 million people employed in 2006, a three per cent increase over 2005.

Unemployment averaged 4.8 per cent for the year, down from 5.9 per cent in 2005, and reached the lowest annual level in 30 years.

“British Columbia’s booming economy has resulted in our province leading the country in employment growth over the past five years,” said Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen.

Credit Union Central B.C. forecasts that 2007 will see continued job growth, with another 2.5 per cent increase.

[DrT]

BC is a great place to live and Canada a great country.
I'm surprised the numbers of people moving in are not higher. I'm sure that
they would be higher if housing wasn't so dear. There are certainly alot of
jobs to be filled.

[ssiguy2]

That's the issue.......people in much of the rest of the country say that BC means "bring cash" for nothing .
Its a great province but moving here even with a raise means a decidedly lower standard of living from any other place in the country.......bar none.

If housing was affordable then I think you would many times that number moving to the province but for most its simply out of the question.

BC has the lowest rate of home ownership in the country and the average person who has bought in the last 2 years spends approx 64% of their NET income on just their housing costs.

[Wonderwall]

I don't think it's fair to equate standard of living solely with disposable income; think how little you could spend on housing living in Port-au-Prince. Maybe I'm simply making a distinction between "living standard"—which is used (rather disingenuously, I think) as a synonym for GDP/capita—and "quality of life", which is more nuanced.

[Rhino]

Housing in B.C. is not cheap .
IE : I bought a small run down home in Kamloops in October 2005 for 74,000$.
I put 6,000 $ into it ( as I am quite adversed in building my self ) I saved money .
I sold it in April 2006 for 160,000 $ .

I bought my second home for 175,000 $ in April 2006 and have put almost nothing into it and have been offered 205,000 $ for it now , and Its not even listed .

[DrT]

If housing was affordable then I think you would many times that number moving to the province but for most its simply out of the question.
BC has the lowest rate of home ownership in the country and the average person who has bought in the last 2 years spends approx 64% of their NET income on just their housing costs.

Ouch!
The recomended max one should spend on housing is about half that, or about 33%.
The cost of living is one of the most important determining factors of where people will move to (in conjuction with jobs and wages).

[Booyashako]

I thought Quebec had a lower homeownership rate...

I'm excited for BC. Hopefully things remain great by the time I out-migrate from Ontario and in-migrate to BC :)

[Rhino]

Everyones working in B.C.

BC'S UNEMPLOYMENT RATE HAS SET A RECORD LOW FOR THE THIRD MONTH IN A ROW. STATISTICS CANADA SAYS THE JOBLESS FIGURE IN THE PROVINCE HAS DIPPED TO 3.9%IN MARCH -- FROM 4% THE PREVIOUS MONTH. THE BC ECONOMY CREATED 13,000 JOBS IN MARCH, WHICH BROUGHT THE TOTAL NUMBER OF NEW WORKERS IN THE PROVINCE IN THE FIRST QUARTER TO 47,000. STATCAN SAYS THE PROVINCIAL ECONOMY BENEFITTED FROM GAINS IN THE MANUFACTURING, INFORMATION, CULTURE AND RECREATION SECTORS:banana:

[mr.x]

^ whooooo!!!!!!

*BC IS GROWING!!!!!......POT!!!!!*

[Coffee Stain]

^ whooooo!!!!!!

*BC IS GROWING!!!!!......POT!!!!!*


Actually it is...it is a 7 Billion dollar industry in BC alone :banana:

Makes you think twice about the economics of keeping marijuana illeglal :cheer:


Looks like some great progress for BC here :cheers:

[mr.x]

Actually it is...it is a 7 Billion dollar industry in BC alone :banana:

Makes you think twice about the economics of keeping marijuana illeglal :cheer:


Looks like some great progress for BC here :cheers:

It's actually $10 BILLION.:banana:

Nearly equivalent to our current biggest industry, tourism at $11 billion.:lol: :cheers:

[Vanman]

Tourism is not even close to being Vancouver's largest industry. Sheesh, you make it sound as if this were Hawaii.