Core Target 2: Personal Income
Where BC Ranks, Provincial Comparison |
|
| Core Target Two tracks the level of real personal disposable income (PDI) per person. From a starting position of $21,968 in 1990, BC’s real personal disposable income declined to $20,026 in 1997. Income growth was below average throughout the 1990s resulting in BC dropping from $1,138 above the Canadian average in 1990 to $544 below it in 2000. |
|
| Growth returned in 1999 and was above average for five of the six years between 2001 and 2006 bringing BC’s income slightly above average for 2006 through 2008. The recession hit income hard in BC moving it down to $406 below average in 2010.
|
|
 |
|
 |
Best and Worst Performers |
| The gap between BC and the top-ranked province grew from 5 to 22 percent between 1990 and 2010 while its lead over the last-place province fell by half, from 44 to 24 percent.
|
|
| Population growth was lower in the 2000s than the 1990s but what made more of a difference to BC’s improvement relative to the Canadian average was the fact that real PDI growth in the 2000s was double that in the 1990s. |
|
North American Comparison |
| BC ranked 55th of 61 jurisdictions in North America in 2010. All five highest-ranked jurisdictions in 2010 were located in the north-eastern United States. Except for Alberta, which placed 37th, the bottom positions were all occupied by provinces. |
|
| BC’s real personal disposable income per capita was roughly $5,000 above lowest-ranked Prince Edward Island, $3,400 below the lowest-ranked state, Mississippi, and $38,000 below first-place District of Columbia. |
|
| Since 1990, BC has ranked as high as 50th (in 1990) and as low as 55th (2008 through 2010). |
|
Why It's Important
Real personal disposable income per capita gives an indication of a person’s spending power and standard of living. It is income, less income taxes, CPP and EI contributions and fees, such as medical insurance premiums. |
|
