Infoline Highlights: Coverage for the week of May 20-24

Employment Benefits - There were 26,040 British Columbians receiving regular employment insurance (EI) benefits in March, 2.6% more (seasonally adjusted) than the previous month. Among B.C.’s metropolitan areas, Abbotsford-Mission (-3.8%), Victoria (-3.2%) and Vancouver (-0.3%) recorded declines, while the number of beneficiaries in Kelowna was up (+4.7%).
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Wholesale Sales - Wholesale sales in the province increased 2.9% (seasonally adjusted) in March, on the strength of the building, materials and supplies (+6.5%) and machinery, equipment and supplies (+6.3%) subsectors. The rise in sales marked the first increase of 2019 and mirrored a similar slip (-2.7%) recorded in February.
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Retail Sales - Retail sales in B.C. climbed 0.7% to $7.3 billion (seasonally adjusted) between February and March, largely reversing a 1.0% decline recorded in the previous month. Compared to March of last year, retail activity in the province was up more notably (+1.2%). Nationally, retail sales were also slightly higher in March (+1.1% to $51.3 billion).
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Visitor Entries - In March, B.C. welcomed nearly 729 thousand non-resident travellers (seasonally adjusted), of which three-quarters (74%) were from the United States. Total non-resident traveller entries to Canada through British Columbia were up 9.2% in March, as entries from the United States jumped 12.6%. At the same time, the number of travellers from the rest of the world also increased (+0.6%)
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Current Surveys

• BC Assessment Employee Engagement
  
• 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 Apprenticeship and Trades Training Students
  
• 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
• OPCC Work Environment
• WES Pulse Check
  

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