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May 19, 2023LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND HOURS WORKED, 2022 [PRELIMINARY] Statistics Canada has released preliminary labour productivity accounts for 2022.
The data are consistent with provincial and territorial real GDP by industry data for 2022 as well as the Survey of Employment, Payroll and hours and the Labour Force Survey. Data reported below focus on business sector industries and do not include either government or non-profit institutions. For example, education refers only to private educational institutions and not government-funded schools.
Large employment losses in high contact service industries in 2020 distorted productivity results for all provinces. Loss of employment hours in these labour-intensive and lower productivity industries increased business sector average productivity in 2020. In 2021 and 2022 as employment recovered in these labour intensive industries, lowering business sector labour productivity back to pre-pandemic levels.
Nova Scotia's business sector labour productivity fell by 3.0% in 2022, following a 4.0% decline in 2021. Hours worked in Nova Scotia's business sector increased by 6.0% while real value added was up by only 2.8%. National productivity was down 1.5% with declines in all provinces except Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest decline in labour productivity.
All provinces reported strong gains in business sector hours worked from 2022 to 2021. For all provinces except Manitoba and Saskatchewan, real value added from rising hours worked were offset by declining labour productivity. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, both higher hours worked and higher productivity of those hours compounded growth in real value added.
Labour productivity represents the amount of real value added generated per hour worked. Nova Scotia's business sector labour productivity was $41.5 in real value added per hour worked in 2022. National business sector labour productivity was $57.6 in real value added per hour worked. Labour productivity is considerably higher in resource-producing provinces (Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta) as these industries generate large amounts of real value added with comparatively few hours worked. Labour productivity was lower in all three Maritime provinces.
Labour productivity continued to revert to trend growth in 2022 after the pandemic-related distortions of 2020 and 2021. Compared with pre-pandemic levels from 2019, Nova Scotia's business sector labour productivity was 0.7% higher in 2022 (the same as the national pace of growth). All provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and Alberta reported higher productivity in 2022 than in 2019.
Business sector hours worked increased 6.0% in Nova Scotia in 2022 - faster than the 5.4% gain registered nationally. All provinces reported higher hours worked with the fastest growth in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta. Manitoba reported the slowest gains in hours worked.
Compared with 2019, Nova Scotia's business sector hours worked were up 3.1% in 2022 - the fastest growth among the provinces. Business sector hours worked have fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels in only 5 provinces: Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. After reporting the largest declines in 2020, Newfoundland and Labrador's hours worked were the furthest below pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
Nova Scotia's business sector real value added increased by 2.8% from 2021 to 2022 - slower than the national pace of 3.9%. Saskatchewan had the largest growth in business sector real value added while Newfoundland and Labrador reported the only decline.
Compared with pre-pandemic levels from 2019, Nova Scotia's business sector real value added was 3.8% higher in 2022. Nationally, business sector real value added was 1.8% higher in 2022 than in 2019 with gains in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Prince Edward Island's real value added has grown the most compared to 2019.
Business sector employee compensation per hour worked increased by 3.7% in Nova Scotia in 2022, which was slower than the national average (5.0%). New Brunswick reported the fastest growth in business sector employee compensation per hour worked while Alberta reported the slowest growth.
Nova Scotia's total employee compensation in the business sector was $32.80/hour worked in 2022. This was 79.4% of the national average. Employee compensation per hour worked was highest in Ontario and Alberta and lowest in the Maritime provinces.
With employment loss concentrated in relatively low-wage industries during 2020 and 2021, average business sector compensation per hour worked rose sharply (as remaining employment was more concentrated in higher-wage positions). However, even with the return of employment in lower-wage industries, Nova Scotia's total compensation per hour worked increased by 15.9% from 2019 to 2022. Nationally, employee compensation per hour worked increased by 16.8% with gains in all provinces. British Columbia and Québec reported the fastest gains in employee compensation per hour worked over this period while Alberta reported the slowest growth.
Unit labour costs represent the amount of labour compensation required to generate $1 in business sector real value added. Unit labour costs rise when employee compensation per hour rises. Unit labour costs fall when labour productivity improves.
In 2022, Nova Scotia's business sector unit labour costs increased by 6.9% - just ahead of the national pace of 6.5%. Unit labour costs were up in all provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador. Saskatchewan reported the slowest growth in unit labour costs.
Nova Scotia's unit labour costs were $0.790 per $1 of real value added in 2022. This was the third highest among provinces. Québec and British Columbia had the highest unit labour costs while Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest.
Nova Scotia's unit labour costs rose in each year from 2020 to 2022, rising by 15.0% over 2019 levels in these years. National unit labour costs were up by 15.9% with the fastest gains in Newfoundland and Labrador. Alberta reported the least increase in unit labour costs over this period.
In 2019 (the latest year for which estimates of nominal GDP by industry are available), Nova Scotia reported the highest employee compensation as a share of GDP at 61.8% (just ahead of Ontario's 61.6%), reflecting the province's relatively labour-intensive industrial composition. Nationally, employee compensation was 57.8% of nominal GDP with the lowest shares in Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan.
Nova Scotia's decline in business sector labour productivity in 2022 was concentrated in service industries (-4.5%), which was a bigger drop than the national average (-2.0%). Both Nova Scotia (0.2%) and Canada (0.3%) reported increases in goods-industry labour productivity.
Compared with 2019, Nova Scotia's productivity gains were similar to the national average by 2022. However, this reflected faster growth in service-industry productivity over this period and an offsetting decline in goods-industry productivity.
Nova Scotia's labour productivity gap relative to the national average reflects lower both goods industry productivity (58.5% of the national average) and services industry productivity (80.5% of the national average).
Prior to the pandemic, Nova Scotia's labour productivity had been a consistent driver of growth in real value added. After the severe distortions in 2020, Nova Scotia's economic growth has come from the rebound in hours worked, offsetting lower average labour productivity.
In 2022, most Nova Scotia industries reported rising hours worked and lower labour productivity. Hours worked grew fastest in arts/recreation and accommodation/food - the two industries most affected by employment losses in 2020. Labour productivity was down most in mining/quarrying, support for agriculture/forestry and fishing.
Compared to pre-pandemic productivity levels from 2019, Nova Scotia's labour productivity has declined for fishing. mining/quarrying, utilities, manufacturing, transportation, professional/technical services, education, health/social, arts/recreation and accommodation/food. The strongest productivity gains were reported in agriculture/aquaculture, support for agriculture/forestry and construction. Hours worked were up most in fishing and professional/technical services. The largest declines in hours worked were in forestry, and support for mining/oil/gas.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0480-01 Labour productivity and related measures by business sector industry and by non-commercial activity consistent with the industry accounts
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