High home prices scaring off Vancouver’s young workers

THE#BCBIZDAILY
Plus, EI is up and our exports are saved

The kids aren’t all right
Millennials are leaving Vancouver in droves, and the culprit is high housing costs according to a new report from Vancity. “Contrary to popular belief, Millennials are just as likely to aspire to home ownership as previous generations,” the report, available here, says. It adds that this generation is also highly educated and mobile—in other words, very willing to leave. The stats appear to back this up. In 2013, Vancouver lost 1,571 residents between the ages of 20 and 30, up from 770 the year before. The average price for a detached home in Vancouver is now $1.4 million; as for why it’s so high, Ian Young at South China Morning Post has a theory.

The numbers don’t lie
The number of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits—517,900 in March—is up year-over-year for the first time in five years. It’s also up from February, by 1.1 per cent. B.C., meanwhile, was up 1.5 per cent. Unsurprisingly, Alberta led the pack with an 8.9 per cent increase in March. But fear not, Alberta, your neighbour has some sound advice.

Diversity pays
B.C. exports are expected to grow this year by 5 per cent (followed by 6 per cent next year) according to a forecast from EDC. Despite falling energy and commodity prices, growing diversity—both in terms of sectors and the markets we’re exporting to—is keeping exports not just afloat but moving forward, the report says. “Since 2000, B.C. has led all provinces in growing their share of sales to emerging markets, from 7 per cent to 30 per cent in 2013. That’s not just to China but to a wide number of non-OECD nations,” said Peter Hall, chief economist at EDC, in a release.