Prince George is one of the 10 best cities in Canada in which to find a job, according to a feature report by MSN.
The nationwide online news service published a Top 10 slideshow that listed the municipalities across Canada, in order, with the best ratio of job applicants per available position. Each community was featured with a photo and paragraph of biographical information.
The rankings put Saskatoon at the top, followed by Nanaimo, Kamloops, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Grande Prairie, Edmonton, Red Deer and Prince George.
Prince George currently has a ratio of nine applicants for every one job posting while Saskatoon topped the list with 4.4 candidates per open position.
"If you live in St. Catharines or Niagara, the competition is steep with almost 100 candidates for every job vacancy, according to a recent study by job search site Adzuna.ca," reporter Josephine Lim wrote in the text of the story. "The best cities boast fewer candidates for each position with some as few as nine or less competitors for each job opening."
The image assigned to Prince George was so generic it was impossible to know if it was actually shot here. It depicted a couple of faceless construction workers building a featureless housing subdivision. Some cities also got this vague treatment while others had major landmarks displayed like Calgary's Saddledome, Edmonton's mall waterpark, and Winnipeg's Provancher Bridge.
The introductory sentence to Prince George's written profile was incorrect, stating that Prince George was a city located close to the Alberta border. The points made after that, however, were more accurate.
"In the past, the city relied heavily on forestry but since then it's developed many sectors, including wholesale and retail trade, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, construction and transportation and warehousing," Lim wrote. "Prince George serves as the province's economic engine, but it also works with Vancouver for its corporate headquarters."
Joel McKay, communications manager for Northern Development Initiative Trust, said he was surprised Prince George was not higher on the list.
"Prince George has offered incredible opportunities for me since I moved here from Vancouver a year ago, and I've met a number of other young people who have moved to the city in the last year because of new career opportunities," he said. "it really is evidence that the economy in Prince George is humming along nicely."
Heather Oland, CEO of Initiatives Prince George, said there were no surprises on the list but having national media attention to the favourable Prince George numbers is good news.
"Internally, sometimes it can lose its effect to the people who love the city, and live here, and hear that message from us that we punch above our weight, but this gives us all the validation that it's not just IPG talk. It's real and verified," she said.
Since there is so much economic activity in Western Canada offering more jobs than there are candidates, in some places, this area is currently a job-seeker's market, according to Oland.
