Work
Employment rate
61% in the first quarter of 2010, down slightly from 62% a year ago
2010
Employment rate by sub-region
- Central Northeast 68%
- North Shore 66%
- South of the Fraser 65%
- Surrey 64%
- Vancouver 62%
2005
Unemployment rate by sub-region
The unemployment rate in the city of Vancouver was highest at 6% when compared to the other sub-regions
2005
Employment growth
Employment in our region grew annually by 2.3% from 2000 to 2009
2009
Occupation types by region
Sales and service is the most frequently reported occupation in the city of Vancouver, representing 25% of the workforce
2006
Retail
Retail trade accounts for 11% of our region’s total workforce with 124,965 workers
2006
Industry classification
The city of Vancouver’s most common industry was professional, scientific and technical services, which represented 12% of the city’s workforce.
2006
Self-employment
13% of our workforce – 154,415 people – are self-employed
2006
Self-employment
increased most in Vancouver, the Central Northeast and Surrey sub-regions from 2000 to 2005 with an nearly 12,000 more individuals reporting self-employment across these different sub-regions
2005
Part-time work
20% of our workforce works part time
2009
Average median earnings
$43,215 is the average median earnings for full-time workers in our region
2005
Earnings by region
North Shore residents had the highest median employment income in our region at $55,035
2005
Real hourly earnings
The median real hourly earnings were $17.01
2009
Farmland
The area of actively farmed land across Metro Vancouver increased 3% from 1996 to 2006
2006
Farm workers
The Surrey sub-region had the highest number of individuals (4,470) employed in farm-related work
2005
Business
GDP per worker
Real Gross Domestic Product per worker was $81,743
2009
Non-residential construction
Permit values for non-residential construction increased 17% from 2000 to 2009 in our region, while increasing 50% across BC
2009
Non-Residential Construction by region
The value of non-residential construction in the City of Vancouver was equal to $490 million
2009
Residential construction
Housing starts decreased 57% between 2008 and 2009
2009
Competitiveness
Our region scored 95 on the KPMG Competitiveness Index on the cost of doing business – this is slightly lower than Toronto (95.8) and slightly higher than Montreal (94.2)
2010
Tourism
Our region had $696 million in revenue from tourist accommodation
2009
The port
Our port generated 43,900 jobs and contributed $4,100 million to the province’s GDP
2008
The airport
Our airport moved more than 16 million passengers and handled more than 198,000 tonnes of cargo
2009
Personal
The 50-hour work week
6% of workers worked 50 hours or more per week
2008
Average net worth
The average net worth of our residents is $572,990, up 3% in one year
2009
Business bankruptcies
218 business bankruptcies were reported in 2009, a 31% decrease from 2005
2009
Business bankruptcy rate
was 0.8 per 1,000 businesses
2008
Business class immigrants
Our province had 28,679 business-class immigrants
2008
RRSP contributions
28% of tax filers made RRSP contributions, down 1% from 2005
2008
RRSP contributors
in our region had a median annual income of $51,040, while those who did not make RRSP contributions had a median income of $26,100
2008
Local food production
The Agricultural Land Reserve
decreased by 5,947 hectares since 1974
2009
Charitable sector
Non-profit sector
53% of non-profits had their revenue decline in the recession
— the average decline was 19%
2009
