Economic Lost & Found

The Statistics Canada article can be found from a search; titled "The West Coast Boom", it appeared May 11th in the Economic Observer. It is not as objective and balanced as the reports one finds in The Daily, which summarizes the latest news from Statistics Canada. For example, the Economic Observer article observed that growth in BC's real gross domestic product (GDP) averaged 2.9% per year from 1990 to 2001. It made that observation under the heading: "The 1990s - a lost decade". There are many decades where average annual real growth of 2.9% would have looked very good. Growth in BC's real GDP was 2.7% in 2003, 4.0% in 2004 and down to 3.5% in 2005.

Noticeably absent from the Economic Observer article, and the Sun editorial, was any discussion of who is benefiting from slightly higher economic growth over the past two years. In 2005 BC's personal savings rate fell to a record breaking negative 7.3% as a percentage of disposable income (what you have after paying taxes); in 1991 it was positive 8.3%. In 1991 per person disposable income in BC was 2.7% above the Canadian Average; in 2005 it was 3.2% below the Canadian average. The dramatic tax cuts of 2001 are not apparent in the per person disposable income data published by Statistics Canada. What is apparent is that economic growth is benefiting corporate bottom lines, while personal incomes make up a declining share of the economic pie. In 1991 profits took 9.8% of BC's GDP, while wages, salaries and supplementary labour income took 56.6%. In 2005 profits took 19.4% of GDP, while labour income was down to 49.9%. These data are also available from Statistics Canada, by clicking on the CANSIM links in the latest story in The Daily on provincial GDP.