There were fewer jobs in British Columbia’s high-tech sector in 2012, but wages in that sector spiked, according to a new report by BC Stats released April 3.
Employment in B.C.’s high-tech sector dipped 0.2% to 84,070 jobs in 2012, according to BC Stat’s Profile of the British Columbia High Technology Sector: 2013 Edition.
“A 1.2% drop in employment in the service sector drove the overall drop, as high tech manufacturing industries increased employment by 5.6%,” the report concludes. “Overall, the high technology sector employed approximately 4.3% of British Columbia’s work force in 2012.”
Despite the drop in employment, wages in that sector increased 7.7% in 2012 to more than $6 billion – the highest increase recorded. Gross domestic product (GDP) for high-tech also increased by 3.4% in 2012.
“In general, B.C.’s high technology sector tends to outperform the general economy and 2012 was no exception, as the 3.4% growth in high tech GDP was double the rate of growth of the industrial aggregate GDP for the province (1.7%).”
“High technology accounted for approximately 7.6% of British Columbia’s overall economic output in 2012.”
It’s clear from the report that many of the new jobs being created in B.C.’s high-tech sector were startups. The province recorded 253 new high-businesses in 2012. In total, there were 9,010 high-tech businesses in B.C. in 2012.
Canada’s domestic market is not large enough to sustain B.C.’s tech sector, so not surprisingly exports account for a considerable amount of B.C.’s high-tech GDP.
B.C. high-tech exports in 2012 were valued at $994.3 million – a 10.5% increase over 2011.
Despite B.C.’s growing high-tech sector, it remains small compared with many U.S. states, the report states.
In Canada, it ranks fourth, compared with other provinces, in terms of employment, international exports, revenue and business counts. However, it had the third largest employment count in 2012.
