Article content

Vancouver officials are defending their decision to tout the bottom-barrel pay of the city’s tech workers in their bid to get online retailer Amazon to build a second headquarters on the West Coast, saying it was one of their “strongest economic arguments.”

After the 50-page bid proposal was posted online last week, many local observers questioned why, in the midst of a housing affordability crisis, the city would boast that its tech workers have the “lowest wages of all North American tech hubs.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Vancouver criticized for boasting about low pay of its tech workers in Amazon HQ bid Back to video

It’s as if the city is telegraphing to the world that its tech workforce consists of only cheap talent as opposed to good talent, said Andrew Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University.

“Great, we’re now the Walmart of tech workers in North America — cheapest prices ever,” Yan said. “That’s a great place to start selling yourself.”

But the person who oversaw the bid package said unlike other cities, Vancouver — already home to over 1,000 Amazon employees — was not prepared to offer tax incentives to the online giant, so it needed to draw attention to other enticements to create a “best-value proposition.”