Table 1
Business sector: Labour productivity and related variables for Canada and the United States1 – Seasonally adjusted
| Fourth quarter 2021 | First quarter 2022 | Second quarter 2022 | Third quarter 2022 | Fourth quarter 2022 | First quarter 2023 | Second quarter 2023 | Third quarter 2023 | Fourth quarter 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | % change from the previous quarter | |
| Canada | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | -0.6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -0.1 | -1.0 | -0.7 | -0.2 | -0.5 | 0.4 |
| Real gross domestic product (GDP) | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.5 | -0.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | -0.4 | 0.4 |
| Hours worked | 2.6 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | -0.0 |
| Hourly compensation | 0.2 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 |
| Unit labour cost | 0.8 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.4 | -0.1 |
| Exchange rate2 | 0.0 | -0.5 | -0.9 | -2.2 | -3.9 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 | -1.6 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | 0.8 | 2.1 | 1.3 | -1.4 | -2.5 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 1.6 | -1.6 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 0.7 | -1.7 | -0.8 | 0.1 | 0.5 | -0.1 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| Real GDP | 2.1 | -0.8 | -0.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| Hours worked | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | -0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Hourly compensation | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.7 | -0.0 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
| Unit labour cost | 0.8 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 1.6 | -0.5 | 1.7 | 0.6 | -0.2 | 0.2 |
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | First quarter 2023 | Second quarter 2023 | Third quarter 2023 | Fourth quarter 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % change from the previous year | % change from the previous year | % change from the previous year | % change from the previous year | % change from the previous year | % change from the same quarter of the previous year | % change from the same quarter of the previous year | % change from the same quarter of the previous year | % change from the same quarter of the previous year | |
| Canada | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 0.4 | 9.2 | -6.2 | -0.5 | -1.8 | -1.8 | -2.0 | -2.4 | -1.0 |
| Real GDP | 1.9 | -6.8 | 5.7 | 4.3 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.6 | -0.3 | 0.7 |
| Hours worked | 1.5 | -14.2 | 12.1 | 4.9 | 2.5 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Hourly compensation | 2.8 | 13.1 | -1.7 | 7.1 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| Unit labour cost | 2.4 | 3.5 | 4.9 | 7.7 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 4.6 |
| Exchange rate2 | -2.3 | -1.1 | 7.0 | -3.6 | -3.6 | -6.3 | -4.9 | -2.6 | -0.3 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | 0.0 | 2.5 | 12.2 | 3.7 | 1.8 | -0.6 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 4.3 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 2.1 | 5.0 | 1.8 | -1.9 | 1.5 | -0.5 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 2.7 |
| Real GDP | 2.8 | -2.8 | 7.2 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
| Hours worked | 0.7 | -7.3 | 5.3 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| Hourly compensation | 3.8 | 8.0 | 4.9 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 5.0 |
| Unit labour cost | 1.7 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 2.2 |
Source(s):
Table 36-10-0206-01.
Table note 1
Calculations of growth rates are based on index numbers rounded to three decimal places.
Table note 2
The exchange rate corresponds to the Canadian dollar value expressed in US dollars.
Table note 3
US data are from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Productivity and Costs: Fourth Quarter and Annual Averages 2023, Preliminary — published in news release, February 1. Due to rounding, the annual growth rates presented in this table can sometimes differ slightly from the annual rates published by the BLS.
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