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/1332052
UNEMPLOY- MENT RATE (10%) HOUSING STARTS PER 10,000 RESIDENTS (10%) HOUSING STARTS PER 10,000 POPULATION (10%) SHARE OF WORK- FORCE IN ACCOM- MODATION AND FOOD SERVICES (10%) SHARE OF WORKFORCE IN WHOLESALE TRADE (5%) SHARE OF WORK- FORCE IN INFORMA- TION, CULTURE AND RECREATION (5%) RESIDENTIAL SALES PER 10,000 POPULATION (10%) CHANGE IN JOBS PER 10,000 POPULATION (10%) AVERAGE ANNUAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (10%) 2021 RANK 1.8% 6.5% 12.8% 125 57 –480 9.0% 3.2% 7.3% 8.2% 111 71 –563 9.2% 4.2% 6.6% 6.8% 97 23 –563 9.2% 4.5% 3.8% 7.5% 88 46 –563 9.2% 3.7% 7.9% 7.0% 73 58 –563 9.2% 3.0% 2.3% 8.9% 103 3 187 9.6% 3.2% 3.9% 9.0% 123 16 170 10.0% 5.3% 5.3% 6.5% 92 27 –563 9.2% 4.4% 5.8% 8.1% 85 48 –563 9.2% 2.6% 2.8% 11.6% 105 19 –228 9.5% 3.2% 8.7% 9.9% 65 45 –563 9.2% 5.0% 4.9% 9.7% 90 52 –563 9.2% 1.9% 3.2% 9.0% 124 88 186 8.7% 2.2% 2.6% 9.8% 80 2 –128 7.3% 1.1% 3.1% 8.2% 114 5 –228 9.5% 1.7% 2.6% 9.2% 109 4 187 9.6% forecasting how 2021 will unfold is anyone's guess. Among our experts, there's a sense that the worst of the economic fallout may still lie ahead. Their concerns are wide-ranging, from the pandemic's impact on employee mental health to reduced face-to-face interaction, which limits opportunities for collabora- tive innovation. Then there's the tough balancing act for senior governments as they try to keep the economy afloat with stimulus spending and financial supports for businesses and workers. "Somehow these policy makers are walking this very difficult line, and I don't want to for a sec- ond pretend that that's easy," the BCBC's Peacock says. "We just don't want to end up in a circumstance where you have a bunch of companies that are depending on these handouts to survive." For local governments, rethinking development fees and permit processes should be a priority, according to Peacock. "I would be looking to streamline and pro- cess as many of the development permit applications that I currently had as pos- sible, because the residential construction industry is a major economic engine in Brit- ish Columbia." With people spending more time in and around their homes and less time frequent- ing traditional employment hubs, SFU's Yan believes cities need to start retrofitting their residential areas for a greater mix of uses. In particular, he suggests introducing functions of production, consumption and distribution. "The future is about how you can build spaces and cities and neighbour- hoods that can adapt to and be flexible to those three functions." One recent exam- ple cited by Yan is the transformation of Surrey's Cloverdale Fairgrounds into a television production set. He commends reusing the space, which has seen events cancelled during COVID, to bring new types of jobs to the area. Taking the long view of what will hap- pen in a post-COVID world, Yan believes stability will be a key asset for the province as a whole. "I think underlying recovery is the level of stability that we have," he says, "the political, economic and social stability that you can find in British Colum- bia that you may not necessarily find in other places in the world." This foundation will ultimately be what attracts new residents, businesses and capital, Yan predicts. "The attraction isn't the return on investment," he says, pointedly. "It's the return of investment." ■ Category weights shown in brackets. Full methodology on page 49 BCBUSINESS.CA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 BCBUSINESS 53 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50