Economic Update Shows Encouraging Signs

Monday, March 01, 2010 07:01 AM

Prince George, B.C.- The latest economic update from Initiatives Prince George shows some positive signs. For the second straight month, employment increased in Prince George with 700 jobs were created.

The increase in employment coincided with a 400 person (0.8%) increase in the labour force; subsequently, the number of unemployed persons declined by 300 (4.6%) and the unemployment rate decreased 0.7% to 12.9%.

When it comes to real estate, 38 single family homes were sold in Prince George in January, with an average price of $248,395. That average price is 1.1% lower than the previous month, but 11.3% higher than the same month last year; unit sales were up 11.8% over January 2009.

As for new home construction, there were 4 housing starts in Prince George in January (all single family units), the same number of starts as the same month last year. Comparatively, starts were up significantly in BC and Canada, up 84.5% and 39.7%, respectively, compared to January 2009. There were 4 residential units completed in the city in January (all single family units), 10 fewer than in the same month in 2009, and there were 177 housing units under construction (134 single family and 43 multiple dwelling units); 44.1% fewer than in January 2009.

(Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

There was a significant increase in the value of building permits issued in January. Thirty one building permits valued at $2.8 million were issued in January, that’s a 145.6% increase compared to January of 2009. The hike due primarily to higher Commercial permits than in January 2009 (118.0% higher), although Residential permits were also up (68.4%).

There was mixed news on business licences. The City of Prince George issued 13 new business licenses and 52 business license renewals in December. Year-to-date, new licenses were down 3.0% while renewals were up 27.0% over the same period last year. The total number of business licenses issued for the year was up 23.0% compared to 2008.

And people are starting to travel again, as 34,014 passengers passed through the Prince George airport in December (17,171 inbound and 16,843 outbound); monthly traffic was up 1.7% compared to the same month last year. For the year, passenger traffic was down 9.9%. Comparatively, traffic through the Vancouver airport was down 9.4% for the whole of 2009.

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Posted on Monday, March 01, 2010 07:01 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: gus on March 1 2010 9:10 AM

Meaningless short term information. Show us a 5 or 10 year picture with trend lines.

Posted by: Resident on March 1 2010 10:19 AM

Agreeing with Gus. Comparisons to 2009 and just about everything would look good. March of 2009 saw the Dow in the 6000 point to 7000 point range. Today over 10,000. Teck Cominco traded at under $4.00 in March of 2009 and now trades in the high $30.00 range. GM and Chrysler were in receivership and needed the taxpayers to bail them out.
Using percentages is a bit of a scam. Going from 1 housing start to 2 is a 100% increase. Sounds good, but not all that significant. The percentage that is significant is the 12.9% unemployment which does not begin to account for the people who have given up looking for a job. Another IPG good news story hardly puts food on their table or clothes on the kids backs. The IPG people are so optimistic they have probably even bought Cougar playoff tickets.

Posted by: Eagleone on March 2 2010 10:29 AM

I anticipate the local forest industry in PG hiring over a thousand employees in the next month to put resources to work in a good lumber market while it lasts... maybe 6-months long enough for everyone to renew their EI eligibility. We will see it all go gang busters for about 6-months and then shut down again is my prediction.

PG was an old persons seniority town and the opportunities over the next month are the best a young generation will have seen in 40+years. Mills like Winton Global will be hiring all new employees when they start up (down for two years come April) with all the same seniority... possibly non union. Rustad, Quesnel, Carrier, Mackenzie... wouldn't be surprised to see them all at full production by next month.

It has nothing to do with IPG or any of the local politicians, but rather a market opportunity simple as that.