The first update of the digital State of the North economic dashboard is live.
In May, Northern Development officially launched the site, which contains all of the information and statistics previously found in the annual State of the North reports.
The following sections of the dashboard have been updated with new stats and commentary:
GDP
Exchange Rate
Unemployment Rate
Labour Force
Job Vacancies
Bankruptcies
Tourism
Mining, Oil and Gas
Some takeaways from the updates:
Across B.C., job vacancies and job vacancy rates have declined and are closer to pre-pandemic levels. Industries such as construction, accommodation and the food services sector show significant declines in job vacancies
Hospitality sector employment is down, which is likely linked to elevated interest rates causing declining levels of discretionary spending
Global natural gas prices trended downwards in the first half of 2024, amid excess global supply. However, drilling activity in B.C. has trended upwards to support export capacity coming online once LNG Canada begins operations in 2025
Please visit https://www.northerndevelopment.bc.ca/state-of-the-north/ to review all the new information.
The next State of the North update will be posted in November.
Joel McKay, CEO, Northern Development Initiative Trust
“The latest data sets for the State of the North continue to indicate the challenging economic conditions in Northern B.C. for the remainder of 2024. While it’s pleasing to see the completion of generational infrastructure projects such as Coastal GasLink, LNG Canada, TMX, and the near completion of Site C, we must focus on what’s next for the region: how do we create the conditions for success that attracts investment, labour and drives productivity to improve our quality of life.”
