bcbusiness.ca January 2015 BCBusiness 55
methodology
T
o evaluate the Best Cities
for Work in B.C., we looked
at seven economic indica-
tors, each weighted differ-
ently, that we believe reflect
the health of a city's job
market. Each statistic was divided
or multiplied to come up with a
score suitable to its weighting. For
example, labour participation (the
percentage of working-age people
active in the job market), which
accounts for 10 per cent of a city's
score, was divided by 10; so Fort
St. John, with a labour participa-
tion rate of 81.18%, received 8.118
points toward its total score. Cities
were then ranked in order of these
totals, from highest to lowest.
A note about exclusions: We
only considered cities with more
than 10,000 permanent residents.
We excluded bedroom communi-
ties, such as West Vancouver, Port
Moody and White Rock, which
have high incomes but relatively
small job markets. And for North
Vancouver and Langley, we mea-
sured the districts, not the cities.
Finally, it should be mentioned
that while we believe Environ-
ics' data is the best available, it is
not without its limitations. Our
income numbers, for example,
are produced using Statistics
Canada and Canada Revenue
Agency data projected forward to
2014. Calculations were made in
October 2013 and may miss recent
economic shocks, particularly in
smaller cities most sensitive to
them (for example, a mine closure
or, conversely, a sudden uptick in
LNG-related activity). ■
To take an even deeper dive
into our methodology, or to see
photos of our top cities, visit
BCBusiness.ca/bestcities
