I’m confused. Of the 65 people, do they all still live in PG or have any of them left? If none of them have left, then there will be a gap in the study. It’s fine to talk about what “may” cause someone to leave, but until they do it’s purely anecdotal, which is virtually meaningless.

Hey IPG, I’d be glad to be part of your study if you want to talk to people who left . . .

IPG is still involved with the City of PG in an armlengths manner is it not?

Even if they are not why would anyone listen to the results of only 65 people when the city will not look at the results of more than 200 surveyed?

They receive 22 grand to survey 65 people and it will take them 3 years?

Three years?

It is not mentioned whether any or all of these people are already in town. It is quite possible that rather than a retroactive recruitment process inquiry on people already here the methodology will be to follow new recruits from day one.

The question then becomes, when will the 65 be achieved, since those who arrive later in the study will have different periods of retention opportunities.

Can the actual methodology be viewed somewhere? I am very interested in the methodology and the background of the key investigator.

Prince George a great place to work, but not such a great place to live! This is backed up by countless health care and other public sector HR recruitment and retention studies.

Where would doctors rather work, Vancouver or Prince George? Hmm. why is Northern Health having difficulty attracting and retaining physicians in the north?

The work has already been done, save your $22,000, because it’s not the first recruitment and retention study done in the north!

It is a longitudinal study. They take time because the activities which are being observed take time.

Seems IPG knows that they will be with us for the next three years.

I would like to see a study on IPG for the past 10 years. The amount of money spent, what it was spent on, and what was the benefits of IPG to Prince George over this 10 year period.

One thing is certain. As long as we fund IPG we will have 8 people on the payroll. It would be interesting to see what these people would do, if we cut the funding. Stay?? Leave??

I’d like a study as to why people live in the Fraser Valley. My house – w five acres – near lake – $220,000 – daughters house, on postage stamp lot – FV – $500,000. My house 33% larger than hers.

I take $280,000, invest at 3% – have enough to go to Arizona for two months every winter, and keep the $280,000.

Daughters commute – 20 k, takes 45 minutes, mine 30 k, takes 30 minutes.

Ski lift line-up whistler – 15 minutes, Tabor – 3 minutes. Understand whistler lift twice as fast, but I’ve been up and down Tabor before I’ve even got on the Whistler lift. Tabor – 20 minutes form town – Whistler, 2.5 hours.

Fishing – FV – bump into boats everywhere – PG, only guy on the lake.

X country sking – FV – none
PG – plenty.

Mountain biking – FV wins, if you enjoy riding in rain a lot.

Hunting – PG

Shopping – FV – of course with my extra $280,000 I could just take the odd weekend trip down there.

Oh crap, did I just come up with the answer they’re looking for – oops – sorry.

BTW – I know a specialist and he and his family are here for all the above reasons and more. He likes living in a mansion here, vs a luxury condo there. Also likes the more challenging work as sees more varied patient base.

ski50. You should ask you daughter why she stays down there.

When I suggest to my son that he should move back from Vancouver to Prince George, he just starts laughing.

PG might be great for those who enjoy the great outdoors in the middle of winter, however that is a very small part of the population. Most people don’t participate, so its not really a big selling point.

The extra 4/6 months of summer is a big benefit. Not to many people like freezing their asses off every winter.

Okay I’ll bite.

Job market – FV – take your pick, make more money and change jobs every year if you want – PG, not quite

Post secondary options – FV – UBC, SFU, BCIT and a whole pile of colleges – PG, UNBC and CNC

Entertainment – FV – CFL, NHL, WHL, MLS, concerts, live theatre, MLB and NFL a short distance away – PG, WHL, concerts and live theatre but not at the same calibre

Fishing – FV – Steelhead and Salmon – PG, Salmon on their death bed in the Bowron. In fairness, PG does have close access to Salmon and Steelhead in the Bulkley Valley, but then the FV also has ready access to the great trout fishing in the Thompson Okanagan.

Boating and/or sailing – FV – Pacific Ocean – PG, Stuart or Francois Lake?

Dining – FV – Take your pick and eat at a new restaurant every day a year for the next two decades – PG, there are a number of really good restaurants but no comparison.

Travel – FV – Vancouver International Airport – PG, same options but add another $300 for connections and 3-4 hours extra travel time.

Nightlife – FV – take your pick – PG, is there even such a thing anymore?

Fresh fruit and veggies – FV – awesome – PG, what day does Superstore get their stock in?

Golf – FV – take your pick and play for 10-11 months – PG, Aberdeen, PGGCC and Aspen and play for 6 months

Property values – FV – sell your house in 20 years, pocket 500-600K and downsize wherever you want mortgage free – PG, sell your house in 20 years, pocket 220K and downsize where?

Air quality – FV – yes it can smell but does it burn your eyes? – PG, I think we all know the deal there!

See and I didn’t even mention Ottawa, LOL ;)

I think you knocked that one out of the park NMG. So the IPG survey question remains; why would anyone move to Prince George from lets say the Fraser Valley?

Answer for work… ergo… Prince George; a great place to work, not so great to live! Can we get our $22,000 now IPG?

It really all depends on what your lifestyle is. ….

NMG …. some additions if you do not mind.

Travel FV = Bellingham airport …. BC license plates dominate the parking lot there. Even PG people drive to Bellingham for that.

Shopping FV = Bellingham/Burlington … I5 traffic with BC license plates from Surrey/Langley/Abbotsford is unbelievable. The blogs such as Craig’s list are full of bitchin’ of how the Canucks clog up the supermarkets. I have never heard Canucks referred to as rude until I mingled with the locals.

Again, Palopu, you make me laugh. I think that’s twice in as many weeks.

You’d like to see a study on IPG for the last 10 years? Surely you jest! You don’t think these people want to ACTUALLY quantify their impact on the Prince George community do you? I guarantee that figure would be quite negative, but I’m sure they’d claim all sorts of intangibles…

Thanks again for the chuckle…

IPG should be able to rustle up about 5 good case studies per year of operation just as a sampling for us.

Case Study: Oklahoma Town Uses Workforce Analytics to Lure Manufacturer to Region

As the U.S. skilled labor supply continues to tighten, economic development groups are finding it increasingly difficult to show site selectors and businesses what they want to see: the availability of skilled workers.

The following case study demonstrates how, with the right data and collaboration, small towns in rural America can compete (and win) in the global economy.

http://thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com/2013/03/04/workforce-data-case-study

An interesting example of exactly the type of work IPG has been successfully doing for many years …. {;-)

Here we go again NMG, I’ll bite (back ;))
Job Market: Other than Nanaimo, PG has the lowest unemployment rate in BC. Change jobs yearly at higher pay in the FV?? Not likely unless you are a doctor or dentist.
Fishing: I know you have posted in the past that you fished alot in the PG area but I really have to question where you did all this. PG, 25 minutes from the Continental Divide varieties of fish not seen in the FV, ready access to hundreds of lakes that, as Ski50 pointed out, you usually have very little company or competition. Lake Trout, Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead, Springs…Need I go on.
PG Airport: Show up an hour before your flight, park almost anywhere & limitless travel options, Vancouver?? Be there 2 hours before your flight which means if you have a 7AM flight, you better get up & out the door by 3:30- 4AM so where is the benefit of 3-4 hours travel time saved?
Property Values: Who the hell can afford to live in the lower mainland other than very well paid professionals or rich immigrants? Which leads to…
Entertainment: If 70-80% of a persons income in the Vancouver area is going towards housing, who has the money to afford to go to a Canucks game (looking at $300-$500 for a couple to go to 1 game).I would never argue there isn’t more entertainment in the Vancouver area than PG, but I can tell you that I have been to more concerts there in the last 20 years than my buddy who lives there.
It all boils down to what a person wants in the place they live, if you want what the Vancouver area has to offer by all means head there. Just be prepared for how much it’s going to cost. As for where people are heading from PG, it’s not the FV. Alberta is sucking our skilled workers out of here like a giant Hoover. Who can compete with the wages & benefit packages they offer? It covers the entire spectrum of employment from skilled labour to trades to professionals.

ski50

If one wants to invest $280,000 at 3%, one first has to have the money to invest. I know, it is a little detail.

$220,000 house in PG will escalate at what rate. A few years ago that house might have been valued ate $150,000, but once that 3 or 4 year more rapid increase was over, which it has been in the last few years, it is more like a 3% or so increase on average which just takes care of mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc., if that.

On the other hand a $500,000 house in the GVRD has an escalation rate considerably higher than a house in PG. It has been a true investment and that is one of the reasons the market is so hot. people want to get in early and make their 3% or 5% or 7% or even 10% increase in all or some years as early as possible … and it is an increase on more than twice as much as the $220,000 house. Until the market drops, which has been predicted for what? 10 years? 15 years? 20 years?

Yes, real estate in such places may be a gamble but the winnings which can be had are far greater than in PG, and hundreds of thousands have been winning for the past many decades since the escalation started.

If my parents had bought a house in Vancouver instead of Ottawa some 50+ years ago they would be multi-millionaires by now.

Location, location, location.

“PG has the lowest unemployment rate in BC”

There are many reasons why an unemployment rate is low. Availability of quality jobs is not an immediate result. Little a lawyer can do when there is no job in that field or any reasonable selection of jobs in a specialty. Macjobs are not jobs for those who graduated from either the local college or university. They typically have to wonder off in some other direction or take that job as a bank teller rather than a job in an accounting firm.

“Who the hell can afford to live in the lower mainland other than very well paid professionals or rich immigrants?”

Guess what, the majority of people living in the lower mainland are not very well paid professionals or rich immigrants.

Yet, when one looks at census data, the majority of people of family creating yage and above living in the lower mainland still own their residence, although ownership is not the panacea it is made out to be for some people.