The province’s largest Crown corporations have generated steady revenue growth since 2013, but that hasn’t translated to increased employment.
BC Housing was the only company in the top five of Business in Vancouver’s Biggest Crown Corporations in B.C. list that hasn’t posted consistent year-over-year growth since 2012. Its revenue dropped 7% in 2013 to $610 million from $657 million in 2012. While BC Housing was the only Crown corporation in the top five to report a revenue drop over the five-year period, it did post the largest 2016-17 fiscal year revenue increase: up 111% to $1.34 billion in 2017 from $636 million in 2016.
Overall, the corporations on BIV’s list generated an average of $1.1 billion in revenue and had an average one-year revenue growth rate of 12% in 2016-17.
The top five recorded an average revenue of $3.9 billion and an average one-year growth of 32% during the same period.
However, since 2013, employment has been dropping for B.C.’s four largest Crown corporations. While employment numbers at some increased slightly over the past year, the gains did not offset the losses during the previous four years.
BC Hydro reported the largest five-year employment drop of 12.8%: to 5,000 employees in 2017 from 5,735 employees in 2013.
The Insurance Corp. of BC (ICBC), which has been under the public spotlight of late over charges of financial mismanagement, tops BIV’s list of Crown corporations ranked by revenue reported in the most recent fiscal year; however, its most recent fiscal year reflects a 15-month period after December 31, 2015, due to a change in fiscal year-end date.
ICBC had the second-largest drop in employment among top Crown corporations over the past five years. Staff numbers were down 9% to 4,840 employees in 2017 from 5,328 in 2013. But while ICBC had the second-largest five-year drop in employment, in 2017 it had the largest one-year growth in employment (2.5%) of B.C.’s four largest Crown corporations.
