A business magazine out of British Columbia has ranked each city in the province, predicting the best places for residents to work in 2017.
BCBusiness' new list, released on Thursday, puts Kelowna and Kamloops both in the top ten, as number four and eight respectively.
The rankings were produced through a survey, taking into account seven factors including average household income, under-35 household incomes, five-year income growth, five-year population growth, average shelter costs, average household spending on recreation and the unemployment rate.
Only cities with more than 10,000 residents were considered.
Kelowna is up seven places on the list, bumping up to a spot in the coveted top five.
A growing tech sector and its attractiveness to young workers has helped the Okanagan city become a better place to work.
“People who don’t know Kelowna well would have thought of this as a retirement destination. Over the last five years that has changed dramatically,” said Mayor Colin Basran, who was quoted in the publication. “The biggest thing that’s holding back the growth of the tech sector in Kelowna is a lack of skilled labour.
“We need to grow our own—so that’s where the post-secondary institutions come in—and then attract skilled labour from elsewhere. And we need to ensure we have a high quality of life, because we know that many of these jobs are mobile and they can be done from anywhere.”
Where do you think is the best city to work in the province? Let us know in the comments.
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