Metro Vancouver employment still strong
Despite some layoffs in the local tech industry, total employment remains strong. Metro Vancouver’s total employment in January 2023 jumped to 1,552,200 with the unemployment rate hovering around pre-pandemic levels of 4.6%.
Employment data by immigration status shows that immigrants who have lived in Vancouver for five or fewer years saw a positive 6.4 percentage points gain in employment between February 2020 and January 2023 – the strongest gain when compared to other major Canadian metropolitan cities.
The Beyond GDP metrics in our latest report provides additional insights on labour productivity, active transportation and voter turnout.
Read the Spring 2023 Report
Vancouver Employment
Real GDP* Growth
Metro Vancouver’s real GDP is expected to hit $160 billion in 2022 (a 2.8% annual growth). Our economy remains less fragile when compared with other Canadian metropolitan cities and is forecasted to achieve 2.2% annual growth in 2023, faster than the province of BC.
Vancouver, BC and Canada
Business Numbers
Metro Vancouver businesses continue to bounce back from COVID-19. Continuing businesses* reached 84,359 in November 2022 – 5.2% above pre-COVID levels of 80,155 in February 2020, mainly from professional, scientific and technical services industry.
Metro Vancouver
*Continuing businesses are businesses that have at least one employee in the previous month and at least one employee in the current month.
Unemployment Indexes
Metro Vancouver’s unemployment index (February 2020=100) recovered to pre-pandemic levels in September 2022 and has continued to improve since then. The unemployment index reached at 104.6 in January 2023 (-1.4% decrease from December 2022).
Unemployment Index
Economic Metrics
As one of North America’s fastest-growing low-carbon economies, Vancouver’s economy was performing exceptionally well before the global pandemic. Vancouver’s recent economic growth has been largely driven by a few key sectors – construction, technology, digital entertainment and the green economy – and has done so by becoming a model for sustainable green growth. As we look beyond GDP in measuring economic recovery, here are a few examples of the key metrics that we actively track in the pursuit of a diverse, resilient economy that helps deliver prosperity for all.
Q1 2022CVCA, 2022
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