WorkLife Issues and Trends in BC

The BC Progress Board have just released their 2007 Interim Report and Special Discussion Paper on Strategic Considerations for BC’s Future.  Selected findings make for interesting reading when you consider how they relate to worklife issues:

• BC’s population will continue to age, with the median age rising to 46.2 years by 2031 from 39.8 in 2006. By 2031 those aged 65+ will increase to 24.2 percent of the population in 2031 from 14.0 percent in 2006.
• BC’s population growth will be concentrated in areas of the province that are already relatively dense: Greater Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Fraser Valley, Cowichan Valley and Central Okanagan.
• BC’s economy will likely continue to be strong for the next five years, with real GDP growing above the national average, while the unemployment rate will remain under 5 percent, or basically at full employment.
• Competitive economies of the next few decades will be underpinned to a considerable extent by “City States” in many instances. This implies that the Lower Mainland will need to cooperate much more closely to increase regional competitiveness.
• Skilled worker shortages will persist well into the next decade as the labour market ages and the baby boom generation reaches retirement age.
• Climate change is likely to persist as a critical provincial, national and global issue which will result in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the short to medium term. It is imperative that British Columbia does so in a measured, balanced and economically sensitive fashion.
• As population growth in urban and regional British Columbia continues, water quality and quantity will increasingly be an issue.
• Health care and costs will continue to be critical issues for BC and other provinces in the coming decade. The question of sustainability of the system driven by population ageing, escalating technology costs, together with increased utilization of services underscores the need for prevention, healthy living and other individual efforts to reduce system costs and improve health outcomes.
• As a small, open, jurisdiction, BC must prepare for and to the greatest extent possible guard against pandemic and infectious diseases. The potential for economic and social disruption is significant, given an increasingly globally oriented economy and society.