BCBUSINESS.CA DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020 BCBUSINESS 29
PUTTING LAST YEAR'S EXPANDED SET OF 46 COMMUNITIES TO THE TEST AGAIN, OUR
SIXTH ANNUAL RANKING OF THE PROVINCE'S BEST CITIES FOR WORK HIGHLIGHTS THE CONSISTENCY
OF THE TOP ECONOMIC CONTENDERS. WHILE THE 2020 LIST FEATURES ENCOURAGING
PERFORMANCES AND FAVOURABLE REVERSALS OF FORTUNE FOR SOME CITIES, IT ALSO PRESENTS LESS
HOPEFUL SIGNS FOR OTHERS. THREE EXPERTS IN URBAN ECONOMICS WEIGH IN
b y A N D R E W M A C A U L A Y
A
t first glance, the 2020 Best Cities for
Work in B.C. ranking looks much like
2019's, with the Sea-to-Sky Corridor
taking the lead again. But given the
province's more-subdued economic
performance over the past year, our
latest list may be as much about underperform-
ers as overachievers. "It's more a story of some
cold spots than it is about hot spots," says Peter
Hall, associate professor of urban studies at
SFU.
Gloomy signals from the forestry and real
estate sectors figure in that assessment. (For our
view on what 2020 holds for those industries
and the B.C. economy as a whole, see page 49.) At
the same time, persistently high housing prices
in Metro Vancouver appear to be having a ripple
effect, pushing working families to the suburbs
and elsewhere. As the Lower Mainland wrestles
with the resulting burden on its transportation
systems, communities from Vancouver Island to
WORK
in 2020
where to