Recent Statistics Canada studies show that B.C. is losing people at a fast pace, and nearly all of them are heading for Alberta.
Since the second quarter of 2011, 12,430 more people moved from B.C. to Alberta than in the other direction. In the last quarter of 2012, the most recent numbers available, B.C.'s net outflow to Alberta was 2,644 people. While jobs and higher pay are a big draw, housing prices likely also play a role. The average residential price in Metro Vancouver, for example, is nearly $600,000, while it is in the $350,000 range in both Edmonton and Calgary.
As for labour rates, the average weekly pay in B.C. is now $874, according to B.C.'s Central One Credit Union, while it is $1,063 in Alberta. B.C.'s unemployment rate is 6.7 per cent, compared with 4.7 per cent in its eastern neighbour.
- Glen Korstrom/BIV
From the Western Investor, August 2013
