The province’s largest software companies have recovered from employment losses suffered during the pandemic, according to data collected on Business in Vancouver’s Biggest Software Companies in B.C. list (https://biv.com/lists).
In 2021, a year into the pandemic, the average and median number of employees at B.C.’s top software firms declined 3.6 per cent and 14.8 per cent, respectively, from 2020 levels.
However, median and average employment more than recovered over the past year from the 2021 decline. Average B.C. employment grew 14.4 per cent in 2022 to 420.9 employees from 367.8 in 2021, surpassing the previous 2020 high of 381.5 employees. The median B.C. employment boasted an even greater increase: 20.9 per cent to 312.5 employees in 2022 from 258.5 in 2021. This suggests that while companies throughout the list grew, smaller companies lower on the list grew faster than larger companies higher on the list.
The variation in growth rates is highlighted by the dramatic 8.8 per cent employment decline at No. 1 SAP Canada Inc. from 2019 to 2021. The number of employees at that company dropped to 1,332 in 2012 from 1,460 in 2019.
Despite that decline, however, SAP’s employment largely recovered in 2022, rising 14.4 per cent to 1,400.
No. 3 Bench had the largest one-year increase in B.C. employment: up 140 per cent to 600 employees in 2022 from 250 in 2021.
