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40 BCBUSINESS.CA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 LIONEL TRUDEL Five-year population growth (maximum score of 10 points) This figure represents the population growth for each city from 2017 to 2022. We gave the highest-growth city 10 points and scored the others in proportion to that. Household financial vulnerability (15 points) This figure—an index created by Environics Analytics—looks at a range of household financial variables, including debt, liquid assets and discretionary income, to show how precarious a typical household's finances are in a given city. The higher the index value, the more vulnerable a city's households are on average. Therefore, we gave the lowest value 15 points and scored the others in relation to that. Resident sense of belonging (5 points) This value represents the sense of belonging that a resident has within their community, as derived from Environics Analytics' Community Life Survey. Cities that had a greater share of residents reporting a "very strong" or "somewhat strong" sense of belonging scored higher than those with more residents reporting a "somewhat weak" or "very weak" sense of belonging. We assumed that cities with a stronger sense of community had stronger social resiliency. The city with the highest sense of belonging received a score of 5, with the others scoring in proportion. Residential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per 10,000 residents (5 points) This number reveals the amount of residential GHG emissions produced by a city annually per 10,000 residents, measured in tons of CO2. Derived from B.C.'s Provincial GHG Emissions Inventory, this value reflects residential energy use, including emissions estimates from electricity, natural gas, wood, oil, and propane consumption. Given the economic risk and uncertainty posed by climate change, as well as rising energy prices spurred by recent geopolitical turmoil, we assumed a positive correlation between a city's environmental and economic resilience. As cities that use less energy and/or cleaner sources see fewer emissions on average, the city with the lowest value received 5 points, with the others scoring accordingly. Rental vacancy rate (10 points) This indicator reflects the reported vacancy rate for rental housing units from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s annual Rental Market Survey. Housing market observers, such as the Royal Bank of Canada, consider a healthy rental vacancy rate to be between 3% and 5%. Therefore, a vacancy rate of 4% received the maximum score of 10, with cities above or below that value scoring proportionately less. Residential sales per 10,000 residents (10 points) This number, from quarterly BC Assessment data, reflects the year- to-date sales totals for single-family and strata residential properties to the end of September 2022. After dividing sales totals by total city population, we multiplied that figure by 10,000 to determine the number of sales per 10,000 residents. We gave the highest value 10 points and scored the others accordingly. Housing starts per 10,000 residents (10 points) We derived this value from the year-to-date housing starts from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s monthly Starts and Completions Survey to the end of September 2022. The city with the highest number of housing starts per 10,000 residents received a score of 10, with the other cities scoring in relation to that. Change in jobs per 10,000 residents (10 points) This figure measures the change in the employed labour force from January to September 2022, derived from StatsCan's monthly Labour Force Survey. We scored the year- to-date difference in jobs out of a maximum value of 10. Average annual unemployment rate (10 points) For this indicator, we averaged unemployment rates for each city from the first three quarters of the year. The averages were derived from rates reported in StatsCan's monthly Labour Force Survey for January through September 2022. We gave the lowest average 10 points and evaluated the others in relation to that. Economic diversity (15 points) This value is derived by applying the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index—a common means of measuring diversity—to StatsCan employment data to determine the labour force diversity of a city's residents. The closer this number is to 10,000 the less diverse a city's workforce is while a number closer to 0 represents a more diverse workforce. Therefore, we gave the lowest value 15 points and scored the others in relation to that. n How We Crunched the Numbers To determine the most economically resilient cities in B.C., we examined 10 indicators with weightings ranging from 5 to 15 percent. Unchanged from last year, the indicators consider economic resiliency more broadly than in years past following in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, including aspects of social and environmental resiliency. Each city received a score out of 100 points and is ranked accordingly. BEST CITIES FOR WORK IN B.C. CRASH PAD The Okanagan winery is among the businesses embracing agritourism as it introduces over- night accommodations and a dedicated tourism centre on its propery