
BC Economy
CPAs are on the front lines of business in this province, and they see firsthand what issues are affecting investment and the economy. CPABC provides CPAs and the public with timely economic updates and analysis on British Columbia as a place to WORK, INVEST, and LIVE.
BC Check-Up Live
The BC Check-Up: Live report focuses on COVID-19’s impact on migration patterns—specifically, how travel restrictions and economic uncertainty continued to curtail BC’s population growth into 2021, and provides a snapshot on migration patterns for each of BC’s seven development regions. The report also examines how the province continues to age, with nearly a fifth of the population 65+ in 2021, and how housing affordability has worsened across the province as house prices far outpace income growth.
BC Check-Up Invest
The 2022 BC: Check-Up Invest report focuses on investment trends across the province and in each of the province’s seven development regions. The report finds that in 2021, key investment indicators such as business activity, housing starts, and major project investment returned to or exceeded pre-pandemic levels. However, challenges remain, including a sustained decline in private non-residential investment, weakened GDP-per-person, and expanded government debt.
BC Check-Up Archive

Uneven BC economic recovery: Price escalation, robust labour market
The economic global landscape has been in flux over the past two years. While BC’s economy recovered robustly in 2021 and has remained relatively strong into 2022, there are growing concerns for a potential economic downturn.

CPABC: BC's population growth continued to slow into 2021, housing prices a major deterrent
VANCOUVER, June 20, 2022 – According to BC Check-Up: Live, an annual report by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) on demographic and affordability trends across the province, B.C.’s population growth continued to decline into 2021.

BC springs forward with strong economy, but inflationary and labour supply pressures loom
An economic update on consumer spending, growing labour shortages, and inflationary and interest rate pressures.

Why companies care about ESG
ESG has gone from being an area of focus for a small number of organizations to something that is very mainstream. And we have seen an incredible shift towards ESG, both in terms of society at large, and also businesses seeing ESG as fundamental to how they operate and how they engage with their stakeholders. It’s fair to say that ESG is now business-critical and that recognition is becoming more and more widespread.

The importance of having an ESG strategy
Responsible investment has been around for 20 years. What began as corporate social responsibility, and has grown considerably in recent years towards the more holistic concept of environmental, social, and corporate governance, commonly known as ESG.

BC Check-Up: Invest
CPABC’s latest report highlights strong investment recovery across BC, but challenges remain

Why ESG matters for CPAs
With the extreme weather we’ve experienced in BC throughout 2021, it is evident that everyone has a role to play in ensuring environmental sustainability for the future.

Greater Victoria starts 2022 off with low unemployment, but high job vacancies

Kicking off 2022 with record employment and job vacancies in the Thompson-Okanagan

BC ended 2021 with robust labour market, but employment growth lags population gains
As 2021 came to an end, BC’s unemployment rate stood at 5.3% in December. That was a small decline from 5.6% in November and well below the 8.0% rate at the start of 2021.

Doughnut Economics and the push for regenerative, distributive systems
How a radical business model is changing the goal for business

BC employment continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels, exports reach record highs
In November 2021, BC’s unemployment rate stood at 5.6%, remaining the same as in October. While BC’s unemployment rate remains well above the 4.6% set in January 2020, it has decreased considerably from 8.0% in January 2021, and 13.4% in May 2020, the peak of unemployment during the pandemic.

PwC forecasts holiday spending to be up a third this year
To gauge what emerging trends to expect this holiday season, PwC Canada recently surveyed Canadian consumers and released its 2021 Canadian Holiday Outlook report.

Employee benefits inflation update for 2022
The issue of inflation continues to be significant for employee benefits, as there continues to be pressure on businesses to maintain these plans.

Work in British Columbia
CPABC's BC Check-Up: Work report looks at emerging employment trends across the province.

Employment gains over past year pushes BC workforce above pre-pandemic levels
BC’s workforce has slightly exceeded pre-pandemic levels, according to recent data that shows provincial employment up by 28,200 jobs this September when compared to September 2019.

CPABC: B.C.’s labour market tightening as workforce up over 150,000 positions since September 2020
According to the BC Check-Up: Work, an annual report by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) on employment trends across the province, B.C.’s unemployment rate was 5.9 per cent in September 2021, down from 8.6 per cent in September 2020.

CPABC's 2022-2023 Budget Submission: A focus on tax modernization to encourage economic resurgence
CPABC’s 2022-2023 Budget Submission recommends the province focus on tax and program reform to improve our province’s productivity.

CPABC: With limited fiscal room, B.C. government should focus on tax modernization to spur growth
As British Columbia recovers from its worst recession in 40 years, it is important that the provincial government focuses on modernizing its tax system to boost business productivity and promote long-term economic growth.

Understanding the need for an ESG strategy
“If Canada is to meet its long-term objectives, sustainable finance must become, simply, finance. In other words, climate change opportunity and risk management need to become business-as-usual in financial services, and embedded in everyday business decisions, products and services.”

Life in British Columbia
BC Check-Up: Live report looks at demographic and affordability trends across the province

PwC CEO Survey: Despite economic optimism, investment in employees and workplaces is critical
Amongst the many survey findings of the 2021 PwC CEO Survey, Canadian chief executives expect the global economy to see a robust recovery over the next year and a majority expect to grow their workforce. But for businesses to make the most of this opportunity, they need to rethink the workplace and invest in their employees.

BC’s population growth slowed in 2020 while inadequate housing supply pushing prices higher
B.C.’s population growth declined by nearly a third in 2020 to only 56,757 new residents.

BC suffers job losses due to circuit breaker, but economy is still expected to resurge this year
After eleven consecutive months of job gains in BC, April marked a set back as both the province and the country as a whole saw total employment decline.

Where does BC’s economy stand a year after the pandemic shut down our status quo?
March 2021 marked a full year since the COVID-19 pandemic pushed British Columbia into a state of emergency. Over the past year, the world has traversed a balancing act between protecting the health and safety of individuals while simultaneously attempting to minimize the economic fallout necessary to do so.

CPABC: B.C.’s Budget 2021 Focused on Economic and Healthcare Supports
The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) commends the government for investing in our healthcare system in Budget 2021 as the province continues to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambitious 2021 federal budget offers $101 billion in new spending over coming years
On April 19, 2021, the Government of Canada released its first budget since the pandemic began. Here’s a short overview.

Strong major project activity in Southwest B.C. may spark economic rebound
In the lead up to 2020, Southwest B.C. experienced record levels of housing construction activity, private investment, and business activity.

BC economy continues to recover in February, but challenges remain
BC saw another month of job gains in February 2021, marking the tenth consecutive month of employment levels improving since the low witnessed in April 2020. The increase helped lower the unemployment rate to 6.9%, a sizeable decline from the peak of 13.4% seen in May 2020 but above the 5.0% rate in February 2020.

Greater Victoria business activity and housing starts take a hit in 2020, but major investments should boost recovery
In the years leading up to 2020, Greater Victoria’s investment activity was thriving with a growing number of active businesses, strong housing starts, and robust economic growth. Unfortunately, the region’s economy took a significant dip due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CPA profession appears at Cullen Commission into money laundering

Canadian economy hitting some bumps on road to recovery
For the eighth consecutive month, BC’s workforce expanded in December. However, the most recent data shows that BC’s growth rate continues to slow considerably from rates seen earlier in the recovery, and for the first time since April, Canada as a whole saw an employment loss.

Southwest B.C.’s employment recovering, but nearly 70,000 workers remain displaced

Thompson-Okanagan’s goods sector leading economic recovery

The fight continues
An update on anti-money-laundering initiatives
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2020 is the year of working (out) from home
While COVID-19 hasn’t exactly quashed the possibility of having shared fitness experiences, it’s certainly changed what that looks like. And businesses that facilitate—or even simulate—togetherness seem poised to dominate the market.

Why scaling up BC tech companies is critical to BC’s economy
To better understand BC’s tech ecosystem, we spoke with BC Tech’s president and CEO, Jill Tipping, FCPA, FCA and KPMG’s Greater Vancouver Area’s industry lead partner, George Kondopulos, CPA, CA on findings from the latest BC Technology Report Card.

COVID-19 employment disruption remains concentrated amongst B.C.’s youth

BC Check-Up: Work

CPABC: Despite recent gains, COVID-19 continues to displace over 100,000 workers across B.C.

At 12.3 per cent, Southwest B.C.’s summer unemployment rate highest in B.C.
According to the BC Check-Up: Work, an annual report by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) on employment trends across the province, Southwest B.C.’s unemployment rate hit 12.3 per cent in the Summer of 2020 (June to August).

BC continues strong job growth and recovery in consumer spending in September

The new retail experience: How COVID-19 rapidly accelerated the shift in customer demands
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the way consumers preferred to shop had begun to morph, with an increasing demand for in-store experiences, greater e-commerce, and more sustainable products. The COVID-19 pandemic has only expedited these trends.

July data sees BC’s economic recovery continue, but recent COVID-19 outbreaks pose threat
Economic data from July indicates that BC is continuing to rebound from the historic lows that began in March. However, the employment rebound has been disproportionately spread across sectors, and areas of consumer spending have shifted since pre-crisis.

BC’s road to recovery: Supporting displaced workers
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the way British Columbians work and live. Over the past few months, businesses across the province closed their doors, displacing a large portion of the workforce.

June economic data: BC continues recovery from COVID-19
After March and April brought historic collapses in employment, consumer activity, exports, and increasingly negative GDP forecasts, new data continues to suggest the worst of the economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. While the situation remains precarious, June data shows the economy is continuing its rebound that began in May.

Federal deficit to hit $343 billion from COVID-19 economic fallout

ESG practices build organizational resiliency in BC’s mining industry
As we continue to navigate through these unprecedented times of uncertainty, achieving resilience and forging new opportunities is top of mind across industries. PwC’s 52nd BC Mining Report, “ESG: Resilience and opportunities in uncertain times”, highlights how BC’s mining industry, a long-term driver of the province’s economy, has continued to evolve and affect progressive change in issues such as health and safety, community engagement, and environmental impacts – topics that will only continue to rise in importance.

CPABC: Bolstering B.C. business productivity key to economic recovery

Worst appears to be behind us with encouraging May economic data on BC’s COVID-19 recovery

BC’s economy: Full impact of COVID-19 still unknown as economy prepares to reopen
How has containing COVID-19 impacted BC’s economy? Recent data is beginning to illustrate what this looks like.

BC’s road to recovery – Minimizing the economic fallout
On May 6, 2020, the BC government announced its plans to re-open the economy, eight weeks after declaring a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement came as BC’s situation looks increasingly positive, with declining total cases and the lowest per capita cases across any jurisdiction with over five million people in Canada, the US, and western Europe.

BC’s economic outlook: Bleak now, brighter in the future
How has containing COVID-19 impacted BC’s economy? Recent data is beginning to illustrate what this looks like.

Economic forecasts: COVID-19's impact expected to bring Canada, BC in recession
As we better understand the implications of COVID-19 on our society and the measures required to curb its growth, organizations are updating their economic forecasts in real-time.

Economic forecast uncertain, but COVID-19 containment can bring hope
If there’s one thing we know about COVID-19, it's that it has brought incredible uncertainty to our lives. It has also brought uncertainty about the state of our economy.

CPABC: B.C.’s Budget 2020 Introduces New Measures to Maintain Balanced Budget and Affordability
The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) commends the government for achieving a balanced budget while still investing in social and capital projects.

Accelerate - Turn the table on climate change
Are you considering the flip-side of your Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance? Climate change is transforming the game for businesses on several fronts—from policy to technologies to market trends.

Moderate Economic Growth to Continue into 2020

Walking on water, living the life

Affordability key to BC Budget 2019

Why modular housing can be one key solution to housing affordability

Ensuring B.C.’s business competitiveness

B.C. exporters should take advantage of Canada’s trade agreements
Export of goods and services make up 38 per cent of B.C.’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As exports are a vital part of our economy, it is crucial that we continue to focus on exploring and diversifying our export products and markets.

Temperature check: BC’s economic activity expected to cool down slightly

GDPR: What European privacy regulations mean for Canadian businesses

Bridging the gap – Skills vs. needs

Skills Training: An Essential for Employees & Entrepreneurs

A quiet crisis – youth employment

High cost of living impacts business competitiveness
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