Vancouver Economy Report Spring 2023
The health of the local economy is deeply intertwined with three priorities identified by Vancouver residents in a recent public consultation: housing affordability, climate action, and community facilities.
Thriving, inclusive economies can influence the affordability of a region by providing good jobs for everyone on livable incomes. Businesses – and investors – have pivotal roles to take to advance meaningful climate action. And the availability of community facilities can indicate whether an economy is prosperous enough to invest in shared infrastructure for its residents.
In this report, we explore select markers indicating the health of the economy in Vancouver, including:
What’s new with employment in Metro Vancouver? In each and every issue of our Vancouver Economy Report, our economic dashboard provides insights into employment rates and jobs recovery, active and opening business counts, venture capital deployment, and commercial and industrial real estate vacancy rates.
While business counts and GDP are critical metrics, we know there’s more to the economy. This section serves up alternate indicators on economic prosperity that have been hand-picked by our research team. This issue, they’ve provided bite-sized definitions and analyses on labour productivity, active transportation and voter turnout.
Storefront businesses are foundational building blocks of culturally, economically and socially significant communities. This issue delves into the importance of bricks-and-mortar businesses to the health of local communities, including notable trends and challenges and ways to build resiliency for storefront businesses in Vancouver.
International trade can lead to more efficiency, greater economic growth, and reduced prices for consumers. However, it can also result in job displacement and less resilient supply chains. We break down the benefits and challenges of international trade, with a side journey into free trade agreements.
The Vancouver Economic Commission respectfully acknowledges that it is located on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.