BC Stats Infoline
Edition: March 13, 2017
Resources
News by Sector
Economy
Minister’s statement on trade mission
Government Operations
Minister’s statement on trade mission
Multiculturalism
Premier's statement marking one year since the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc’s residential school findings
Services
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Infoline Highlights: Coverage for the week of March 6 - 10
Labour Force Statistics - The unemployment rate in British Columbia was 5.1% in February, down from 5.6% in January. The gain in employment relative to the previous month (+19,400) was much greater than the increase in the size of the labour force (+6,600).
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Price of New Housing - The cost of new housing in B.C.'s two largest metropolitan areas continued to climb in January. In Victoria, new housing prices jumped 5.5% over the same month of 2016, while homebuilders in the Vancouver area received 3.6% more for their projects.
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Housing Starts - Urban housing starts (in centres with 10,000+ population) in the province began to bounce back in February, rising 6.8% (seasonally adjusted at annual rates) following a 32.9% drop-off in January. Nationally, the number of starts edged up 0.9% in February, with strong gains occurring in most of western Canada as well as Quebec (+21.5%).
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Labour Productivity - Workers in B.C. businesses earned $99.6 billion in wages, salaries and benefits during 2015, an increase of 4.5% over the previous year. This marked the first time since 2006 that labour income in the province has grown faster than the national average (+3.0% in 2015).
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Adult Criminal Court - A total of 33,930 criminal cases appeared before adult courts in B.C. in 2014/15, down 7.7% from the previous year. Of the cases tried in B.C. in 2014/15, 72% resulted in a guilty verdict.
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Exports - The value of B.C. origin exports climbed 25.8% year-over-year from January 2016 to January 2017. There was strong growth to B.C.’s largest trading partner, the United States, at 21.5%.
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Value of B.C. building permits jumped 19.5% in January.
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Current Surveys
- Apprenticeship Student Outcomes (APPSO) Survey
- Baccalaureate Graduate Survey
- BC Hydro Workforce Profile Survey
- BC Public Service Exit Survey
- Canada-BC Job Grant Outcomes Survey
- Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate Student Outcomes (DACSO) Survey
- FrontCounter BC Customer Satisfaction Survey
- Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities Outcome Survey
- Legal Services Society 2017 Work Environment Survey
- Long Term Disability (LTD) Application Process Survey
- Ministry of Finance Revenue Services Client Satisfaction Survey 2016/2017
- Office of the Auditor General 2017 Work Environment Survey
- SDSI LMAPD Monthly Survey 2016-17
- Service BC Citizen Satisfaction Survey 2016/2017
- Service BC Registries and Online Services Survey
You can read more about any of these by visiting our Current and Recent Surveys page.

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Did You Know
79% of Canadian families will end up spending an average of almost $600 on spring break activities for their children. And B.C. families will spend an average of $913, more than any other province.
Source: Ipsos Canada

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Headlines
- The unemployment rate decreased 0.5% in February.
- In 2015, workers in B.C. businesses earned 4.5% more in wages, salaries and benefits over 2014.
- B.C. exports jumped 25.8% in January compared to January 2016.

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Released last week by BC Stats
- Exports
- Labour Force Statistics
This week
- No releases
See BC Stats' latest releases or view our yearly release schedule.
