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The lost productivity attributed to B.C.’s shortage of educated and skilled workers nearly doubled in 2016 and is now costing the provincial economy $7.9 billion in foregone gross domestic product and $1.8 billion in lost tax revenues, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

The figures, released Tuesday, are dramatically worse than in 2015, when the board estimated the province was missing out on $4.7 billion in GDP and $616 million in tax revenue because of a shortfall of residents with necessary skills and education.

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The new figures, contained in the report Post-Secondary Education Skills for a Prosperous British Columbia — 2016, are worrying B.C.’s university and college administrators, who say the shortage of skilled labour will handicap employers, leaving them without the human capital to innovate.

“B.C.’s future rests on its ability to develop well-educated, skilled and adaptable citizens,” University of Victoria president and chair of the Research Universities’ Council of British Columbia Jamie Cassels said in a statement. “Our post-secondary system is among the best in the world, allowing students to choose their own pathways to personal and career success. And it is clear that in the coming years it must be even further positioned to provide the skilled workers who will fuel B.C.’s social and economic prosperity.”