BC Stats Infoline
Edition: October 22, 2018
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Economy
Minister’s statement on trade mission
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Minister’s statement on trade mission
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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 October 15-19
Consumer Price Index - British Columbia’s consumer price index (CPI) was 2.5% higher (unadjusted) in September than in the same month of last year. On a monthly basis, the rate of inflation was down 0.5% from August 2018.
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Retail Sales - Sales by retailers in the province were down slightly (-0.1%, seasonally adjusted) in August, marking the fourth consecutive lacklustre month. Canadian retail sales also inched down 0.1%, with declines seen in 7 of the 11 subsectors.
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Employment Insurance -The number of regular Employment Insurance (EI) recipients in B.C. inched down (-0.9% seasonally adjusted) to 42,200 in August. An increase in the number of male beneficiaries (+3.4%) was offset by a decline among female recipients (-6.2%).
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Manufacturing Sales - Manufacturing sales in B.C. climbed 0.6% (seasonally adjusted) in August. Sales of manufactured food products were up for a fifth straight month (+1.1%), helping to drive total receipts for non-durables 1.9% higher.
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Small Business Profile 2018 - The Small Business Profile explores the role of small business in B.C. and the sector’s contribution to the economy by examining trends in growth, as well as cross-provincial comparisons for 2016/17. There were a total of 501,300 businesses in B.C. in 2017. Of these, 493,100 (98 per cent) were small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
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- Small businesses in B.C. employed almost 1.1 million people in 2017. The 2018 edition of the British Columbia Small Business Profile is now available.
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Current Surveys
- Baccalaureate Graduates Survey
- BC Hydro Workforce Profile Survey
- BC Public Service Exit Survey
- BC Public Service New Job Survey
- Canada-BC Job Grant Outcomes Survey
- FrontCounter BC Customer Satisfaction Survey
- Long Term Disability (LTD) Application Process Survey
- OCIO Client Satisfaction Survey
- Online Games Survey
You can read more about any of these by visiting our Current and Recent Surveys page.

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Did You Know
In B.C., the rate of immunization against the flu has increased between 2003 (29%) and 2014 (33%), but at a slower rate than all other provinces except for Ontario and Quebec.
Source: Statistics Canada

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Headlines
- B.C.'s consumer price index increased in September from September 2017.
- Retail sales in B.C. dropped slightly in August from the month before.
- The number of people in B.C. receiving employment insurance benefits decreased in August from the previous month.

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Released last week by BC Stats
- Consumer Price Index
This week
- No releases
