An improving private-sector investment climate and a housing boom has helped the construction sector post some of the strongest job gains of any other sector in B.C.’s economy over the past decade.
According to Statistics Canada, B.C. has seen more than $24 billion in commercial and industrial building permit activity in the past decade, compared with $14 billion in the 1990s.
The increased commercial activity has been coupled with the residential housing boom over the same period, which has helped create more than 76,400 jobs between 2002 and 2012.
Similar to the manufacturing sector, construction was one of the main beneficiaries of the province’s move to employ the harmonized sales tax back in 2009. Back then, the government noted the sector would save nearly $900 million in PST-related taxes and expenses and eliminate the complex accounting associated with managing the PST and the GST.
Whether building activity will continue to increase remains to be seen after May’s provincial election and once the PST returns this spring. With continued global economic uncertainty and slow economic growth in B.C., it could fall again, eroding the sector’s strong job gains.
“Construction is quite volatile,” noted Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of BC. “Business confidence is very important in attracting capital to that sector. It can be quite affected by government policy or by the perceptions investors may have of the environment here. If the government happens to change, there could be some impact.”
