BCBusiness

January 2015 Best Cities for Work in B.C.

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.

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16 BCBusiness JANUARY 2015 W y B . C .' s n e w s a n d v i e w s f r o m i n d u s t r y s e C t o r s 01/15 1 9 H u m a n r e s o u r C e s Meet Cameron Laker, CEO of Canada's only recruiting firm for hourly workers front lınes m e d i a L ike many in his field, Jamie Cheng, owner of Klei Entertainment—a small Gastown-based mobile gaming studio—views the local video-game sector as an ecosystem of stable, high-paying jobs. B.C.'s 67 video- game studios have an average lifespan of nine years, according to the Digital Media and Wireless Association of B.C. (DigiBC), while average annual salaries for the industry's roughly 5,000 workers top $80,000. Institutions such as the Centre for Digital Media and the Vancouver Film School churn out graduates by the hundreds—many of whom go on to work for giants such as Electronic Arts (EA) or, like Cheng himself, found small studios of their own. While the ecosystem is stable, it remains fragile—and heavily dependent on government support for its survival. B.C.'s Digital Media Tax Credit is one program credited for maintaining a vibrant local scene. The 17.5 per cent rebate on salaries of game designers and developers was introduced in 2010, and many say it has helped save thousands of jobs over the past five years in what has become a ruthlessly Staying in the Game B.C.'s video-game industry, while not booming, is in a relatively stable position. That all could change if a critical tax credit disappears in next month's budget by Jacob Parry PAUL JOSEPH y 01/15 1 9 H u m a n r e s o u r Meet Cameron Laker, of Canada's only recruiting firm for hourly workers

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