With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1254353
PULLING THROUGH: B.C. has ably managed the public health fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen the federal and provincial governments extend tens of billions of dollars in wage subsidies and other support. Although many businesses and workers have suffered, provincial industries such as food (above) and construction (top) remain strong 8 INVEST in BC 2 0 2 0 Official Publication of the BC Economic Development Association. In special partnership with BCBusiness. C O V I D - 1 9 B R I E F I N G The 2020 edition of Invest in BC was researched and prepared before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a shutdown of the provincial economy. We asked several experts to weigh in on the road ahead for businesses and communities. C all it a black swan, a meteor strike or a sucker punch. However you describe it, the COVID -19 crisis wasn't an event that business analysts predicted for 2020. Although B.C. has managed the public health fallout from the global pandemic better than many other jurisdictions, there are new economic uncertainties and realities in play. Fortunately, the federal and provincial governments have stepped up with tens of billions of dollars in wage subsidies, business loans and other support. And as B.C. takes cautious steps to reopen the economy, not every industry has been left reeling. A few specialty manufacturers have even benefited (Plexiglas makers, for instance). Supermarkets, most food production and construction have continued more or less as before. But the damage has been considerable. Just how bad a hit has the province taken? Ken Peacock, chief economist and vice-president of the Business Council of British Columbia, offers some startling perspective. "In the worst month of the 2008-09 financial crisis, B.C. lost about 10,000 jobs," Peacock says. "Over a nine-month period during that recession, we lost about 70,000 jobs. That was a deep recession." But this March alone, 132,000 jobs vanished from B.C., Peacock notes. Job losses doubled in April, reaching 264,000. "As of May, we are at about 11-percent unemployment," Peacock explains. "In the private sector, almost one in four jobs have been lost." The BCBC's economic forecasts have become more pessimistic as events unfolded. "We are now honing in on a number of minus-8 percent GDP for 2020," Peacock says. As B.C. starts to reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, how can businesses rebound from this unprecedented event? BY STEVE BURGESS THE COVID FACTOR