Employment continues to rebound, but recovery varies across sectors
Metro Vancouver’s employment has almost recovered to pre-COVID levels; our employment index shows 99.2 in May 2021 (base month = February 2020). Since last November, Vancouver’s unemployment rate held steady between 7-8% and remains the lowest among Canada’s four largest cities.
However, proprietary data shows that the municipality of Vancouver’s employment has yet to recover 21,000 jobs lost due to COVID, and that recovery has not been equal across sectors. This concludes the Statistics Canada pilot for municipal-level data, so don’t miss out on the latest (and last) set of data!
Read the June 2021 Report
Vancouver Employment
Real GDP* Growth
Metro Vancouver’s real GDP fell by an estimated 4.0% in 2020 but is forecast to rebound by 4.9% in 2021. The Vancouver region fared better when compared to the wider provincial performance (-3.8% in 2020) but is predicted to rebound slower than the national rate of 5.8%.
Vancouver, BC and Canada
Business Numbers
Metro Vancouver businesses continue to bounce back from COVID-19. The region gradually gained businesses since June 2020, climbing back to 80,620 businesses in February 2021 – above pre-COVID levels of 79,535 continuing businesses in February 2020.
Metro Vancouver
Capital Investment
In Q1 2021, Vancouver saw 17 deals representing $203 million in investment, ranking third behind Toronto and Montréal for deal flow. The largest exit this quarter in Canada was Vancouver-based financial company Fraction Technologies (later-stage, $289 million).
Total Venture Capital Deals Q1, 2021
Economic Metrics
As one of North America’s fastest-growing low-carbon economies, Vancouver’s economy was performing exceptionally well before the global pandemic. Vancouver’s recent economic growth has been largely driven by a few key sectors – construction, technology, digital entertainment and the green economy – and has done so by becoming a model for sustainable green growth. As we look beyond GDP in measuring economic recovery, here are a few examples of the key metrics that we actively track in the pursuit of a diverse, resilient economy that helps deliver prosperity for all.
YTD Q1 2021CVCA, Q1 2021
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