State of the North Report highlights success stories and challenges for Northern BC economic and Industrial development

An extensive review of the economic, industrial and resource picture in the Northern half of the province was released this week through the Northern Development Initiative Trust, the 64 page, State of the North Report expiring a range of themes and providing for some detailed overview of the many sectors that fire the northern economic engine.

Not surprisingly, the overview of 202, which marks the fifth review of the North over half a decade,  was heavily focused on how the region addressed year two of the COVID pandemic, with Joel McKay, CEO of Northern Development Initiative Trust noting of the challenges that the years of pandemic delivers to the various regions of northern British Columbia.

“This year’s State of the North contains good news, bad news and a lot of uncertainty. Our region is faced with labour shortages, slow population growth and a myriad of other risks from floods, fires and a war in Eastern Europe. 

However, major project constructions along with strong commodity prices will likely continue to support various industry sectors for the next few years.”

Mr. McKay's introduction to the report charted the course as to what readers will find when they explore the document in full.

Much of the focus on the Industrial analysis was focused on forestry, energy, mining, Oil and Gas development, Tourism and Agriculture, many of which aren't of a large scale for production or extracting on the North Coast.

Port Development does have a large role in most of those sectors reviewed, but as to what impact the Prince Rupert Port Authority and its partner terminals have to the Northern BC economy was of some limited focus for the report.

Transportation and Tourism also had some North Coast notes, particularly with a review of Ferry transportation in and out of Prince Rupert and on Haida Gwaii.

Of note from the overall look at Unemployment for the North. was how the Northwest remains the region with the highest rate of Unemployment at 7.5 percent, which is an improvement from two years ago  when it was listed at 9.8%

The review of themes of the report dedicated to the Northwest can be explored below.

As for the Northwest region, the area was the focus for five pages of data and information review.

The findings from the report noted of a projected rate of growth of population for the region of 0.9 percent which is slightly below the Provincial average that is expected to grow by 1.2 percent per year.

Of note for the population base of the region is an expectation that the number of residents over 65 will increase from 16 percent in 2020 to 24 percent by 2024, something for community planners to take note of as they provide for services and such for the future .

The Employment picture for the region also was under the microscope, with employment in the Transportation sector rebounding as 2020 came to and end, though lingering impact of COVID did play a role in diminishing tourism opportunities for workers, that is expected to ease as we come out of the pandemic.

Using the hot nature of the Terrace-Kitimat corridor for employment the study observes of some discrepancy for a number of jobs when it comes to liveable wage expectations for the two cities, with that wage set at 20.61 an hour for Kitimat, 18.17 for Terrace.

A topic that has become a significant one for debate for all of the Northwest's main communities is Housing and the report notes of the rising level of selling prices for homes in the region and how that is of note for local communities seeking to recruit workers.

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The full report was a partnership between the Northern Develop Initiative Trust and MNP Economics and Research, you can explore the entire document and its data here.

You can compare the 2021 findings with those of the past from the NDIT archive page here.  

The items of note culled from it make for a snapshot of some of the Industrial sector on the North Coast you can review those stakeholders from our archive page here.