Why It's Important The employment rate is an effective measure of the rate of labour utilization. Indeed, high labour utilization traditionally accompanies strong economic activity. Note: The employment rate shown here for Development Regions differs from that reported elsewhere because a different population group is used.

Regional Indicator One is the percent of the population (ages 15 and over) that is employed. The higher the employment rate, the better the rank.

British Columbia's employment rate increased by 1.5 percent between 2006 and 2007. Regional BC and all of the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) saw improvement between 2006 and 2007 and also between 1998 and 2007.

In 2007, 73.4 percent of the people aged 15 and older in Regional BC were employed. Rates in the CMAs were all above this but were within five percent.

The Northeast had the highest employment rate among the development regions in 2007 and for the 1998 through 2007 average. Its average employment rate was well above second ranked North Coast & Nechako. The Kootenay Development Region had the lowest average employment rate from 1998 through 2007 with an average rate 11.6 percentage points (20.3 percent) lower than in the Northeast. Average rates were only slightly higher in the Thompson-Okanagan and Vancouver Island & Coast regions.

All development regions saw their employment rate increase between 1998 and 2007.