Economy
In its early inception, Courtenay's economy relied heavily on the extraction of the natural resources, like coal, logging, fishing, and agriculture. Over the years as this natural resource extraction decreased, Courtenay has focused its economic growth on supplying services to the large retiree community and the military families at CFB Comox, who is the largest employer in the Valley supplying approximately 1,400 jobs. Tourism has also been steadily increasing and has now become a vital part of the Comox Valley economy. St. Joseph's General Hospital, Mount Washington home of the Critically Endangered Vancouver Island marmot, Crown Isle Golf Course, Kingfisher Resort and Spa and the Coast Westerly Hotel, and the Airforce base at Comox are in the top 15 employers in the Comox Valley providing 1,200 jobs.
Approximately $573.8 million are spent in the retail industry in the Comox Valley, with half of the sales coming from supermarkets, gas stations, and car sales. The average household income is $59,136 which is 16% less than the BC average and 18% lower than the Canadian average. In Courtenay, 60% of the income sources is employment, 19% from pensions, and 6% coming from investments.
Read more about this topic: Courtenay, British Columbia
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit: but also the other way around. What we experience in dreams, so long as we experience it frequently, is in the end just as much a part of the total economy of our soul as anything we “really” experience: because of it we are richer or poorer, are sensitive to one need more or less, and are eventually guided a little by our dream-habits in broad daylight and even in the most cheerful moments occupying our waking spirit.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)