BC Business
Vancouver has been bumped out of second place in CBRE Inc.'s Scoring Canadian Tech Talent, the real estate services firm's second annual ranking of how major Canadian cities appeal to technology workers and employers. Toronto topped the list again, while Ottawa and Vancouver swapped spots, sending the latter down to No 3. The CBRE report cites...
Vancouver has been bumped out of second place in CBRE Inc.’s Scoring Canadian Tech Talent, the real estate services firm’s second annual ranking of how major Canadian cities appeal to technology workers and employers.
Toronto topped the list again, while Ottawa and Vancouver swapped spots, sending the latter down to No 3.
The CBRE report cites Vancouver technology companies as employing 65,100 people in tech-specific jobs and another 121,400 in non-tech occupations like sales and marketing. The 2016 average wage for those in each category was $79,402 and $53,713, respectively.
By comparison, the 212,500 tech-specific workers in Toronto earned an average of $82,385, while their 68,600 Ottawa counterparts made $85,421 on average. In Toronto, 328,100 non-tech employees garnered an average of $58,205, less than the $61,311 their 75,900 peers earned in Ottawa.
One knock against Vancouver is that it led the country in office space rent per square foot, posting a $39.84 rate in 2016, a big jump over the next closest cities, Toronto ($34.25) and Edmonton ($34.21). Vancouver also had the country’s lowest office vacancy rate according to the report.
However, CBRE suggests that Vancouver is enjoying a bounce-back year in 2017, thanks to multinationals like Amazon.com Inc. boosting their presence in the city.