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About Thompson-Okanagan
Thompson/Okanagan has a hot and dry climate during the summer, particularly around Osoyoos, which is Canada’s only desert area. The region is known for its orchards and vineyards, as well as its forests and lakes. Thompson/Okanagan includes five regional districts:
The peopleThompson/Okanagan has a population of 527,700. Unlike Vancouver Island/Coast and Mainland/Southwest, where the bulk of the population is located near the largest urban centres, the population of Thompson-Okanagan is more evenly dispersed. Central Okanagan, which includes Kelowna, is the most populous regional district (180,100). Kamloops is the biggest urban centre in Thompson-Nicola, which has the second-largest population (130,100) in the region. Penticton and Summerland are both located in Okanagan-Similkameen (which has a total population of 82,400). The largest city in North Okanagan (population 81,900) is Vernon. Salmon Arm and Revelstoke are in the Columbia-Shuswap regional district, which has a population of 53,000.
About 12% of BC’s population lives in Thompson-Okanagan About 12% of BC’s population lives in the Thompson-Okanagan, a share that has remained quite stable since 1995. The region is popular with retirees from the prairies as well as other parts of BC, and this is reflected in the age structure of its population, which is a little older than the provincial average. About 99,000 senior citizens live in Thompson-Okanagan. Seniors make up a bigger share of the population in this region (19%) than in any other part of the province. Seniors make up nearly a fifth of Thompson-Okanagan’s population—more than in any other region
Two-thirds (66%) of the region’s residents were between the ages of 15 and 64 in 2008, less than in any other region. Relative to its population, Thompson-Okanagan has fewer children aged 15 or under than any other region except Vancouver Island/Coast. Children made up just 15% of the region’s total population in 2008. Where are the people located?Twenty percent of Thompson/Okanagan’s population lives in rural areas
One in five residents of Thompson-Okanagan lives outside municipal boundaries. In Columbia-Shuswap, 41% of the population lives in a rural area. Okanagan-Similkameen (30%), North Okanagan (23%), and Thompson-Nicola (18%) also have a fairly large rural population. In contrast, just 10% of the residents of Central Okanagan (the area around Kelowna) live in unincorporated areas. Columbia-Shuswap is the least populous regional district
Thirty-six percent of the region’s workforce, and a slightly smaller share of its population, is located in Central Okanagan. One in four workers is employed in Thompson-Nicola, while Okanagan-Similkameen and North Okanagan are each home to about 15% of the region’s workers. About 10% of the workforce is located in Columbia-Shuswap, the most sparsely populated regional district. The workforceThere were 265,000 people working in Thompson-Okanagan in 2008. Because the region’s population is somewhat older than the average for the province, its share of total employment is a little lower than its population share. Women make up 47% of the workforce, about the same as the BC average. Full-time employment is marginally less common in Thompson-Okanagan (79%) than in the province as a whole (80%). Twenty-one percent of the region’s workforce is self-employed
Twenty-one percent of the workers are self-employed, compared to 19% for the province as a whole. This likely reflects the role of agriculture and forestry in the region’s economy. These industries typically have a higher-than-average incidence of self-employment. Self-employment is also quite common in construction, which is one of the region’s fastest-growing industries. The unemployment rate in Thompson-Okanagan averaged 7.9% between 1995 and 2008, slightly more than the 7.2% average for all of BC. The economyMore than a quarter of the workers are employed in goods-producing industries
Thompson-Okanagan is more dependent on goods production than the province as a whole. About 27% of its workers are employed in the goods sector, compared to 22% of all workers in BC. The influx of people into the region has contributed to a construction boom, and one in eight people working in the region have jobs in construction, considerably more than the average for all of BC. Manufacturing employs nearly 9% of the population. One in three manufacturing jobs is forest-related, mainly in wood processing. Other manufacturing activities in Thompson-Okanagan include fruit and vegetable processing and metal fabricating. Plastics, trailers, ships and boats, and various other products are also manufactured in the region. Construction and manufacturing are the main employers in the goods sector
The forest sector also plays a key role in the region’s economy, as do mining-related activities. Forestry, fishing & mining employs 3% of the region’s workforce. Most (six out of 10) of these workers are employed in mining or mining-related services such as mineral exploration and development. Thompson-Okanagan is the location of a large number of mines, including the Highland Valley copper-molybdenum-gold-silver mine and the MAX molybdenum mine. Other mines and quarries extract gypsum, limestone, shale, silicon, stone and other products. Four out of 10 workers in this industry are engaged in forestry & logging. Three percent of the regional workforce is employed in agriculture. The Okanagan is well-known for its orchards and vineyards, and a wide variety of fruits, including apples, apricots, cherries, grapes, peaches, and pears, are grown in the region. Okanagan fruit stands are popular with locals as well as tourists from other parts of Canada, many of whom bring BC fruit home with them fro |
Thompson-Okanagan covers much of the Interior of the province, stretching from Princeton in the west to Golden and the BC-Alberta border on the east. Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon, and Penticton are the largest cities in the region.
