About Vancouver Island/Coast

Vancouver Island/Coast is located on the west coast of the province, and includes all of Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and some of the coastal regions on the Mainland. Victoria and Nanaimo are the biggest population centres.

The region has one of the mildest climates in the country, and is a destination enjoyed by visitors from other provinces throughout the year, but especially during the winter months, when its relatively mild weather attracts “snowbirds” wishing to escape the worst of the winter.

There are nine regional districts in Vancouver Island/Coast:

• Alberni-Clayoquot
• Capital
• Central Coast
• Comox Valley
• Cowichan Valley
• Mount Waddington
• Nanaimo
• Powell River
• Strathcona

Comox Valley and Strathcona used to be combined into one regional district, and most labour market data is only available for the combined region, formerly called Comox-Strathcona.

The people

The region had a population of 764,300 people in 2008, accounting for about 17% of the provincial total. The Capital regional district, which includes Victoria and the surrounding area, is home to about half (364,100) of the region’s residents. Nanaimo (on the mid-Island) is the second-largest regional district, with a population of 145,900. Most of its residents live in the cities of Nanaimo (82,900) and Parksville (11,600). Courtenay (population 23,900) is the biggest municipality in Comox Valley, which has a population of 63,300.

More than a fifth of BC’s senior population lives in Vancouver Island/Coast. Victoria has been called the city of the “newly wed and nearly dead” because it is a favoured destination for honeymooners and other tourists, and has a large senior population.

However, the Capital region doesn’t have the largest concentration of seniors in Vancouver Island/Coast. In the Nanaimo regional district, 21% of the population is 65 or older (compared to 17% in the Capital region).

Vancouver Island/Coast has a large senior population

Not surprisingly, given its large senior population, there are proportionally fewer children (under 15) and working aged residents in Vancouver Island/Coast than in the province as a whole. Sixty-eight percent of the population is of working age (15 to 64), slightly less than the provincial average (70%). Children under 15 make up 14% of the population, less than in any other region. Eighteen percent of the region’s population is aged 65 and older–there were 137,700 seniors in Vancouver Island/Coast in 2008.

Where are the people located?

One in five residents lives in a rural area

One in five residents of Vancouver Island/Coast lives in a rural (unincorporated) area. Central Coast (located on the mainland) does not have any incorporated areas, and 44% of Cowichan Valley’s population lives outside incorporated areas. In Alberni-Clayoquot, Comox Valley, Mount Waddington, and Powell River, about a third of the population lives in an unincorporated area. Nanaimo (27%) and Strathcona (24%) have proportionally fewer people living in unincorporated areas. The Capital regional district is the most highly urbanized (93% of its residents live in an incorporated municipality, city or town).

Half of the jobs are in the Capital regional district

Half of the region’s workforce is located in the Capital region, while four out of 10 workers have jobs in either the Nanaimo (18%), Comox Valley & Strathcona (14%), or Cowichan Valley (10%) regional districts. The other regions are more sparsely populated, and are home to relatively small percentages of the total workforce.

The workforce

There were 394,200 people working in the region in 2008. There are more working-aged women than men living in Vancouver Island/Coast, and women make up a slightly larger-than-average share (49%, compared to 47% for all of BC) of the total workforce in this region.

Most workers (78%) have full-time jobs, but the incidence of full-time employment is slightly lower than the provincial average (80%).

Although just over 19% of the workforce is self-employed, this type of work arrangement is becoming less common in Vancouver Island/Coast. In the late 1990s, 23% of the workforce was self-employed. One reason for the decline may be that there are fewer jobs in industries such as logging and forestry, where self-employment is more common.

A fifth of the workforce in Vancouver Island/Coast is self-employed

Unemployment rates in Vancouver Island/Coast tend to be a little higher than the provincial average. The jobless rate averaged 7.7% during the period from 1995 to 2008, compared to 7.2% for the province as a whole. However, there are large differences in the incidence of unemployment within the region.

Victoria’s unemployment rate is usually lower than in other parts of the region, possibly because service sector employment is dominant in the capital city’s economy, and unemployment rates tend to be lower in service industries. Workers living in other parts of the region, where employment in goods industries is more prevalent, are much more likely to be unemployed.

The economy

The region’s economy reflects the mix of rural and urban dwellers, and their associated activities. Victoria is the capital city, and home to a number of educational, health and public sector institutions, so it has a large concentration of service sector establishments. Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting & trapping are important employers in some of the more sparsely populated regions of Vancouver Island and the central coast.

Service industries dominate the region’s economy

Construction is the biggest employer in the goods sector, with about 10% of the region’s workforce employed in this industry, nearly double the number working in manufacturing. Historically, forest-related activities such as paper manufacturing, wood, and food processing have played a bigger role in the regional economy.

One in 10 workers is employed in construction

In 1995, there were 26,000 people working in manufacturing and 23,000 employed in the region’s construction industry. By 2008, manufacturing employed just 19,700 people, while there were 39,400 working in the construction industry. Vancouver Island/Coast’s manufacturing industry, which is largely dominated by the forest products sector, has faced some challenges in recent years, while the construction industry has been in an upturn, as a building boom has kept workers busy. Although the pace of new construction activity has slowed and there have been some job losses in construction, the industry remains the biggest goods-sector employer in the region.

Resource-based activities are more prominent in rural areas of the region

Food & beverage, paper, wood and miscellaneous manufacturing activities are the main employers in manufacturing. Food manufacturing includes a wide range of activities, but seafood processing is a key activity. In the forest sector, a number of pulp, paper and saw mills continue to operate in Vancouver Island/Coast, despite the recent downturn. Other manufacturing activities in the region include ship and boat building, aerospace products, furniture manufacturing and a wide range of other activities.

Forestry and logging activities employ more than half of the people working in forestry, fishing and mining. However, there are some mining activities in the region, including the Myra Falls zinc-copper-gold-silver mine and the Quinsam coal mine in central Vancouver Island. A number of limestone, aggregate, silica and clay mining operations are also located in the region. The region is also home to more than half of the workers in the province’s fishing industry.

Although agriculture employs just 1% of the workforce, farming activities in Vancouver Island/Coast are varied. Greenhouse, nursery & floriculture production is a big employer, as is aquaculture. Vancouver Island/Coast is home to almost all of the province’s aquaculture operations.

Trade, health and accommodation & food services are the biggest service sector employers

Sixteen percent of the region’s workforce is employed in wholesale & retail trade. Health & social assistance (14%) is the second-biggest employer in the service sector.

Accommodation & food services (9%), and public administration (8%) are also important employers in the region.

In the education industry, the University of Victoria, Camosun College, Royal Roads University, North Island College, and Vancouver Island University are all located in this region, as are some other smaller post-secondary institutions.

With about half of the population living in the Capital Regional District, many of the service-related jobs are located in and around Victoria.

How does the region’s economic structure compare to BC’s?

Just 17% of the province’s workers are employed in Vancouver Island/Coast, but the region accounts for a much bigger share of the jobs in some industries, including public administration (31%), health & social assistance (22%), and accommodation & food services (20%).

Vancouver Island/Coast is home to one in three public administration workers in BC

Victoria is a capital city, and this is reflected in the relative importance of public sector employment in the region. Nearly a third of all federal, provincial and local government employees in BC worked in Vancouver Island/Coast in 2008. Most (two out of three) of these government workers were located in the Victoria area. The provincial government is by far the biggest employer of government workers in Vancouver Island/Coast, but municipal and aboriginal governments, together with the federal government, also employ workers in this region.

Twenty-two percent of the workers in BC’s health & social assistance industry are located in this region. The concentration of workers in this industry is partly a reflection of the age structure of the region’s population, since older people typically make more use of the health care system than do younger individuals. The Victoria area is also the location of one of the province’s cancer treatment facilities, as well as some other specialized facilities.

Vancouver Island/Coast is very popular with tourists, including day-trippers as well as longer-term visitors, and this is one reason why the region is home to a fifth of all BC workers in accommodation & food services.

What’s been happening since 1995?

Vancouver Island/Coast has seen slower than average population growth since 1995

The region’s population has expanded 10% since 1995, significantly less than the 16% increase in BC’s population during this period. As a result, the region’s share of BC’s population has fallen from just over 18% to just over 17%.

In Vancouver Island/Coast, the senior (+28%) and working age (+14%) population has not grown as much as in the province as a whole, and the number of children living in the region has fallen 18%.

Employment growth has been much stronger than population growth. The number of jobs in the region has increased nearly 29% since 1995, slightly less than the average for the province as a whole (+30%).

The job growth was almost entirely due to gains in the service sector, where employment increased 37%. In the goods industries, employment was virtually unchanged from 1995 levels.

The region’s goods sector has not fared well...