The Economics and Statistics Division maintains archives of previous publications for accountability purposes, but makes no updates to keep these documents current with the latest data revisions from Statistics Canada. As a result, information in older documents may not be accurate. Please exercise caution when referring to older documents. For the latest information and historical data, please contact the individual listed to the right.
<--- Return to Archive
For additional information relating to this article, please contact:
June 02, 2017CANADA BUSINESS SECTOR LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY, Q1 2017 
Labour productivity of Canadian businesses was up 1.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, the largest gains since Q2 2014. Labour productivity grew in both the goods (+0.9%) and services-producing (+2.0%) sectors. The main sources of productivity growth were finance and insurane, wholesale trade, retail trade and manufacturing.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) of businesses was up 1.1 per cent in Q1 while hours worked fell 0.3 per cent. Hours worked declined 0.7 per cent in services and rose 0.8 per cent in goods-producing businesses.
Unit labour costs were down 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, as the increase in labour productivity (1.4 per cent) was faster than growth in hourly compensation which rose 1.0 per cent. Measured in US dollars, Canada's unit labour costs were up 0.5 per cent as the average value of the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar was up 0.8 per cent in the quarter. Compared to 2012 Q4, unit labour costs in US dollars have fallen 22.7 per cent.
Note: Labour productivity, GDP and, unit labour costs cover the business sector only. Labour productivity is a measure of real GDP per hour worked. Unit labour cost is defined as the cost of workers' wages and benefits per unit of real GDP.
Statistics Canada -Labour productivity, hourly compensation and unit labour cost, fourth quarter 2016
<--- Return to Archive
