Kelowna’s workforce growing rapidly and getting more tech savvy

The number of working-aged people in Kelowna grew five times faster than the rest of Canada during the 2016-21 census period.

The 15 to 64 age group grew by 12.6% compared to the national average of 2.5%.

“The Labour Force is growing,” says a report by the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission that analysed data from the latest Statistics Canada census release earlier this week.

“Both labour force (people aged 15+ who want to be employed), and employment (people actually employed) in the region grew at a rate higher than the Canada and British Columbian average and higher than Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary,” the report says.

There are also significant changes in where these people work.

During the census period professional, scientific and technical service employment grew to 8% of the labour force from 6.6%.

Health care and social assistance grew to 14% of the labour force from 12.9% and educational services grew to 7% from 6.1%.

There are more certified trades people aged 25 to 64 at 11.6%, up 2.5% from 2016.

The average commuting time in the Central Okanagan is 19.5 minutes compared to the national average of 23.7 minutes.

Read more from the report here.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics

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