Infoline Highlights: Coverage for the week of June 17-21

Retail Sales - Retail sales in B.C. continued to seesaw in April, slipping 0.5% (seasonally adjusted) following a similar increase recorded in March (+0.6%). Retail sales in Vancouver decreased 1.7% in April.
Read more >>

Building Investment - Total investment in building construction in B.C. climbed in April, increasing 8.0% (seasonally adjusted) to reach $2.7 billion. Investment in non-residential building construction in the province was 2.3% higher than in March
Read more >>

Quarterly Population Highlights - The population of B.C. was estimated at 5,034,482 as of April 1, 2019, growing by 14,180 persons in the first quarter of 2019 (up 0.28% from January 1, 2019). Combined net in-migration from all sources (inter-provincial and international) totalled 13,903 persons during the first quarter of 2019, similar to the same quarter in 2018.
Read more >>

Employment Insurance - The number of British Columbians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits dropped 2.2% (seasonally adjusted) in April, to 40,560. Nationally, EI beneficiaries inched down 0.7%, to 438,290.
Read more >>

Visitor Entries - Visitor entries to B.C. from the U.S. and overseas was unchanged (+0.0%, seasonally adjusted) in April. While entries from overseas sources jumped 2.6%, travel to B.C. from the U.S. slowed (-0.9%).
Read more >>

Food Services and Drinking Places - Sales at British Columbia’s food services and drinking places stalled (-0.1%, seasonally adjusted) at $1.04 billion in April. Nationally, industry sales inched up 0.3% (to $6.2 billion) with six provinces reporting increased revenues.
Read more >>

Consumer Price Index - British Columbia’s consumer price index (CPI) was 2.6% higher (unadjusted) in May 2019 than in the same month of 2018. On a monthly basis, the rate of inflation rose 0.5% from April 2019. The overall annual inflation rate increases by 2.5% when food and energy are excluded from the index.
Read more >>

Manufacturing Sales - B.C. manufacturing sales (seasonally adjusted) were up 1.8% in April, driven mostly by the furniture (+11.5%), electrical equipment (+8.6%), food (+2.9%) and primary metal (+2.4%) industries.
Read more >>

Current Surveys

• BC Council on Admissions & Transfer Survey of Mobile Students
  
• BC Hydro Workforce Profile Survey
• BC Public Service Exit Survey
• BC Public Service New Job Survey
• BC Student Outcomes Survey of Diploma, Associate Degree and Certificate Students
• Canada-BC Job Grant Outcomes Survey
• FrontCounter BC Customer Satisfaction Survey
• Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities Outcomes Survey
  
• Long Term Disability (LTD) Application Process Survey
• WES Pulse Check
• Workforce Development Agreement Outcomes
• Workforce Development Agreement Employer Outcomes
  

You can read more about any of these by visiting our Current and Recent Surveys page.