Vancouver BC - The BC Progress Board delivered its 2004 Interim Benchmarking Report to Premier Gordon Campbell today. The report provides a preliminary snapshot of BC's overall 2003 economic performance in advance of the Board's comprehensive Fourth Annual Benchmarking Report which will be released in December.

BC's annual rate of real economic growth, expressed on a per person basis, improved to 4th place in Canada (2003) from 8th in 2002. BC maintained 3rd place for the level of after-tax income per capita (2003), unchanged from last year's report. BC placed 6th among the provinces for the employment-to-population ratio (ages 15-64, 2003), up from 7th place in 2002. This improvement was due to robust employment growth in BC during 2003. The Progress Board has set benchmarks for BC to place 1st or 2nd on each of these core targets by 2010.

"Despite a year of significant economic shocks - SARS, mad cow disease, fire storms, floods, the dampening effect on BC's exports of the unprecedented 21% jump in the Canadian dollar relative to the US currency, and lingering problems securing access to the US market for softwood lumber - British Columbia's relative economic growth pulled ahead of the national average, the first time this has happened in 10 years", noted David Black, BC Progress Board Chair and President of BC-based Black Press Ltd. "Substantial residential investment and brisk growth in the energy sector drove BC's overall economic performance", Black continued.

There was no change in BC's position on four of six other economic indicators included within the Interim Report. British Columbia placed 2nd in Canada (2003) for the level of real average hourly wages, 8th for exports (goods and services per capita, 2003), 6th for business investment (residential and non-residential, 2003), and 2nd best for top marginal personal income tax rate (2004). BC placed 6th for productivity (2003), down from 4th in 2002 and 5th for research and development spending as a percentage of GDP (2001), down from 4th place on restated data for 2000.

"Attracting more business investment, improving productivity, and adopting a concerted focus on export growth remain at the heart of restoring BC to an economic leadership position in Canada", stated the Progress Board's Executive Director Tim McEwan. "This means aggressively selling BC as a place to invest in other jurisdictions; it also means thinking and acting in broader terms about developing markets beyond our borders for all BC produced goods and services", McEwan continued.

This year's Interim Report includes a special topic report on demographic change. Over the next four decades developed countries - and by extension their sub-national jurisdictions - will experience significant population ageing. Among the findings:

• The combination of declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancy is resulting in ageing populations in most western jurisdictions, including BC;
• BC currently has more of its population in the 65 and older cohort than Canada as a whole (13.3% versus 12.7%) and a higher median age (38.4 years versus 37.6);
• In 1950, the under-15 population group in Canada was 29.7% of the total and the over-64 population group was 7.7%. In 2000 those under 15 years were 19.1% of the total versus 12.6% for those over 64. By 2050 16.3% of the Canadian population will be under-15, while fully 24.3% will be over age 64;
• Health care will be more affected than other social spending by population ageing;
• Health care costs are significantly higher for the elderly than young people - in 2001, 7.3% of public and private health care spending went to those under age 14, while 14.7% went to those over 85 years; and,
• BC's elderly dependency ratio is expected to increase, placing upward pressure on health care costs.

"The ageing of British Columbia's population brings with it important public policy challenges", stated David Black. "Meeting these challenges will require higher economic growth, continued fiscal discipline, and an examination of "age-based" as well as current per capita approaches to funding allocation under the Canada Health Transfer", Black continued.

Further information and a copy of the Interim Report are available on the BC Progress Board's website - www.bcprogressboard.com

The BC Progress Board, established by Premier Gordon Campbell in July 2001, is an independent panel of 16 senior business and academic leaders. The Board's mandate is to competitively benchmark BC's economic, innovation, education, environment, health and social performance over time and relative to other jurisdictions. The Board also has a mandate to provide strategic advice to the Premier and government on ways to improve BC's economic performance and its social policy supports.