Productivity accounts
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- Articles and reports: 36-28-0001202301200006Description: Canada and the United States share a deep economic relationship that contributes to most measures of their economic performances having a tight common trend over the long term. However, a notable exception is the increasing disparity in labour productivity growth between the two nations. This article summarizes recent research by Statistics Canada, focusing on the information and cultural services industry and how its competitive intensity relative to the United States has influenced the Canada-U.S. labour productivity growth gap since 2001.Release date: 2023-12-21
- Articles and reports: 11F0019M2021007Description:
An increase in the economic participation of women has been identified as a major driver of economic growth, leading to increased interest in supporting the entrepreneurial activities of women. This paper uses newly developed data on the gender of business owners to investigate differences in labour productivity between men-owned, women-owned and equally owned enterprises. This paper uses the Canadian Employer–Employee Dynamics Database (CEEDD).
Release date: 2021-08-30 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2020005Description:
Understanding intangible investments is essential for providing accurate measures of gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity growth, and for understanding the innovation system. Statistical agencies need measures of intangible investment to produce economic statistics on aggregate activity that accurately measure concepts such as GDP, GFCF or savings. The levels of GDP, GFCF and savings will be underestimated to the extent that expenditures are incorrectly classified as intermediate inputs that are fully consumed during the period being measured—and not as investments that are not fully consumed during the period when the expenditures are incurred. Estimates for GDP and productivity growth rates may be similarly underestimated. This paper updates and expands upon the intangible capital estimates presented by Baldwin et al. (2009), who extended already measured intangibles (i.e., research and development [R&D], software, mineral exploration) to include additional asset classes consistent with international research on intangible capital measurement (see Corrado, Hulten and Sichel 2009).
Release date: 2020-02-12 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2020002Description:
Labour productivity growth in the business sector in Canada started to decline in 2000, from 2.3% per year in the period from 1991 to 2000 to 1.0% per year in the period from 2000 to 2015. This paper examines how innovation, innovation diffusion across firms, and business dynamism affected the productivity slowdown.
Release date: 2020-01-17 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2019013Description: The need to measure both the desirable outputs (goods and services) and the undesirable outputs (emissions of greenhouse gases [GHGs] and criteria air contaminants [CACs]) from economic activity is becoming increasingly important as economic performance and environmental performance become ever more intertwined. Standard measures of multifactor productivity (MFP) growth provide insights into rising standards of living and the performance of economies, but they may be misleading if only desirable outputs are considered. This study presents estimates of environmentally adjusted multifactor productivity (EAMFP) growth using a new comprehensive database. This database contains information on GHG and CAC emissions, as well as on the production activities of Canadian manufacturers.Release date: 2019-05-08
- Articles and reports: 11-626-X2018084Description:
This Economic Insights article examines the changes in productivity dispersion in Canadian manufacturing—that is, the difference between the productivity performance of the most productive plants (frontier plants) and the productivity performance of all remaining plants (non frontier plants). It examines the relationship between changes in productivity dispersion, aggregate manufacturing productivity growth and exchange rate movements.
Release date: 2018-11-06 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2018409Description:
Labour productivity growth and multifactor productivity (MFP) growth slowed in Canada and other advanced economies after 2000. Several measurement challenges have been suggested as potential explanations for this trend. These include the measurement of intangible capital in a digital economy, the measurement of natural resource capital in the resource extraction sectors, the effect of infrastructure capital and the effect of cyclical fluctuations in the utilization of capital in industries adversely affected by world demand. This paper focuses on the role of these measurement issues in the slower productivity growth observed in Canada.
Release date: 2018-10-29 - Articles and reports: 11-626-X2016057Description:
This Economic Insights article addresses the extent to which immigrants contribute to economic growth. For the first time, the business ownership and job-creation activities of immigrants are addressed. A longer, more detailed study is also available.
Release date: 2016-03-21 - Articles and reports: 11F0027M2014095Description:
This paper examines the investment performance of Canada and the United States, exploring similarities and differences in investments in fixed assets over the 1990-to-2011 period. This is a period when the two countries experienced different shocks. The United States suffered from a major decline in its housing markets after 2007 that did not hit Canada. The world-resource boom in the post-2000 period had a greater impact on Canada than it did on the United States. The Canada–United States exchange rate appreciated dramatically after 2003 thereby making imported machinery and equipment relatively less expensive in Canada.
The comparison is primarily based on investment intensity, measured as the ratio of nominal dollar investment to nominal gross domestic product (GDP), but rates of growth of the volume of investment relative to the volume of GDP are also compared.
Release date: 2014-10-21 - 10. Productivity: What Is It? How Is It Measured? What Has Canada's Performance Been Over the Period 1961 to 2012? ArchivedArticles and reports: 15-206-X2014038Description:
This paper provides an overview of the productivity program at Statistics Canada and a brief description of Canada’s productivity performance. The paper defines productivity and the various measures that are used to investigate different aspects of productivity growth. It describes the difference between partial productivity measures (such as labour productivity) and a more complete measure (multifactor productivity) and the advantages and disadvantages of each. The paper explains why productivity is important. It outlines how productivity growth fits into the growth accounting framework and how this framework is used to examine the various sources of economic growth. The paper briefly discusses the challenges that face statisticians in measuring productivity growth. It also provides an overview of Canada’s long-term productivity performance and compares Canada to the United States—both in terms of productivity levels and productivity growth rates.
Release date: 2014-09-15
Data (1)
Data (1) ((1 result))
- 1. The Canadian Productivity Accounts: Data ArchivedTable: 15-003-XDescription:
The Canadian Productivity Accounts: Data is an electronic publication that contains a series of tables on productivity growth and related variables for the business sector and its 51 major sub-sectors based on the North American Industry Classification System. These tables allow users to have a broader perspective on Canadian economic performance. They complement the information available on CANSIM which offers more detail, particularly at the industry level.
Canadian Productivity Accounts (CPA) are responsible for producing, analyzing and disseminating Statistics Canada's official data on productivity and for producing and integrating data on employment, hours worked and capital services consistent with the Canadian System of National Accounts. To this end, the CPA comprise three programs. The quarterly program provides current estimates on labour productivity and labour costs at the aggregate level for 15 industry groups. The annual national program provides yearly estimates on labour productivity, multifactor productivity and several indicators of sources of growth and competitiveness as they apply to the major sectors of the economy and to the industry level. Lastly, the annual provincial program, as an integral part of the Provincial Economic Accounts, provides estimates on employment, hours worked, labour productivity and labour costs at the industry level for each province and territory.
The Canadian Productivity Accounts: Data covers four series of statistical tables:
Table 1: Output, labour compensation, capital cost and cost of intermediate inputs in current dollars
Table 2: Productivity and related measures
Table 3: Productivity and related measures for the business sector, Canada and United States
Table 4: Productivity and related measures for the manufacturing sector, Canada and United States
Productivity measures the efficiency with which inputs (labour and capital in particular) are utilized in production. Productivity measures can be applied to a single input, such as labour productivity (output per hour worked), as well as to multifactor productivity (output per unit of combined labour and capital inputs). Statistics Canada produces these two main measures of productivity, but other productivity ratios can also be measured (e.g., output per unit of capital services).
Release date: 2007-12-06
Analysis (38)
Analysis (38) (0 to 10 of 38 results)
- Articles and reports: 36-28-0001202301200006Description: Canada and the United States share a deep economic relationship that contributes to most measures of their economic performances having a tight common trend over the long term. However, a notable exception is the increasing disparity in labour productivity growth between the two nations. This article summarizes recent research by Statistics Canada, focusing on the information and cultural services industry and how its competitive intensity relative to the United States has influenced the Canada-U.S. labour productivity growth gap since 2001.Release date: 2023-12-21
- Articles and reports: 11F0019M2021007Description:
An increase in the economic participation of women has been identified as a major driver of economic growth, leading to increased interest in supporting the entrepreneurial activities of women. This paper uses newly developed data on the gender of business owners to investigate differences in labour productivity between men-owned, women-owned and equally owned enterprises. This paper uses the Canadian Employer–Employee Dynamics Database (CEEDD).
Release date: 2021-08-30 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2020005Description:
Understanding intangible investments is essential for providing accurate measures of gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity growth, and for understanding the innovation system. Statistical agencies need measures of intangible investment to produce economic statistics on aggregate activity that accurately measure concepts such as GDP, GFCF or savings. The levels of GDP, GFCF and savings will be underestimated to the extent that expenditures are incorrectly classified as intermediate inputs that are fully consumed during the period being measured—and not as investments that are not fully consumed during the period when the expenditures are incurred. Estimates for GDP and productivity growth rates may be similarly underestimated. This paper updates and expands upon the intangible capital estimates presented by Baldwin et al. (2009), who extended already measured intangibles (i.e., research and development [R&D], software, mineral exploration) to include additional asset classes consistent with international research on intangible capital measurement (see Corrado, Hulten and Sichel 2009).
Release date: 2020-02-12 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2020002Description:
Labour productivity growth in the business sector in Canada started to decline in 2000, from 2.3% per year in the period from 1991 to 2000 to 1.0% per year in the period from 2000 to 2015. This paper examines how innovation, innovation diffusion across firms, and business dynamism affected the productivity slowdown.
Release date: 2020-01-17 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2019013Description: The need to measure both the desirable outputs (goods and services) and the undesirable outputs (emissions of greenhouse gases [GHGs] and criteria air contaminants [CACs]) from economic activity is becoming increasingly important as economic performance and environmental performance become ever more intertwined. Standard measures of multifactor productivity (MFP) growth provide insights into rising standards of living and the performance of economies, but they may be misleading if only desirable outputs are considered. This study presents estimates of environmentally adjusted multifactor productivity (EAMFP) growth using a new comprehensive database. This database contains information on GHG and CAC emissions, as well as on the production activities of Canadian manufacturers.Release date: 2019-05-08
- Articles and reports: 11-626-X2018084Description:
This Economic Insights article examines the changes in productivity dispersion in Canadian manufacturing—that is, the difference between the productivity performance of the most productive plants (frontier plants) and the productivity performance of all remaining plants (non frontier plants). It examines the relationship between changes in productivity dispersion, aggregate manufacturing productivity growth and exchange rate movements.
Release date: 2018-11-06 - Articles and reports: 11F0019M2018409Description:
Labour productivity growth and multifactor productivity (MFP) growth slowed in Canada and other advanced economies after 2000. Several measurement challenges have been suggested as potential explanations for this trend. These include the measurement of intangible capital in a digital economy, the measurement of natural resource capital in the resource extraction sectors, the effect of infrastructure capital and the effect of cyclical fluctuations in the utilization of capital in industries adversely affected by world demand. This paper focuses on the role of these measurement issues in the slower productivity growth observed in Canada.
Release date: 2018-10-29 - Articles and reports: 11-626-X2016057Description:
This Economic Insights article addresses the extent to which immigrants contribute to economic growth. For the first time, the business ownership and job-creation activities of immigrants are addressed. A longer, more detailed study is also available.
Release date: 2016-03-21 - Articles and reports: 11F0027M2014095Description:
This paper examines the investment performance of Canada and the United States, exploring similarities and differences in investments in fixed assets over the 1990-to-2011 period. This is a period when the two countries experienced different shocks. The United States suffered from a major decline in its housing markets after 2007 that did not hit Canada. The world-resource boom in the post-2000 period had a greater impact on Canada than it did on the United States. The Canada–United States exchange rate appreciated dramatically after 2003 thereby making imported machinery and equipment relatively less expensive in Canada.
The comparison is primarily based on investment intensity, measured as the ratio of nominal dollar investment to nominal gross domestic product (GDP), but rates of growth of the volume of investment relative to the volume of GDP are also compared.
Release date: 2014-10-21 - 10. Productivity: What Is It? How Is It Measured? What Has Canada's Performance Been Over the Period 1961 to 2012? ArchivedArticles and reports: 15-206-X2014038Description:
This paper provides an overview of the productivity program at Statistics Canada and a brief description of Canada’s productivity performance. The paper defines productivity and the various measures that are used to investigate different aspects of productivity growth. It describes the difference between partial productivity measures (such as labour productivity) and a more complete measure (multifactor productivity) and the advantages and disadvantages of each. The paper explains why productivity is important. It outlines how productivity growth fits into the growth accounting framework and how this framework is used to examine the various sources of economic growth. The paper briefly discusses the challenges that face statisticians in measuring productivity growth. It also provides an overview of Canada’s long-term productivity performance and compares Canada to the United States—both in terms of productivity levels and productivity growth rates.
Release date: 2014-09-15
Reference (8)
Reference (8) ((8 results))
- Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2013031Description:
This paper describes the evolution of the Multifactor Productivity Program launched at Statistics Canada in 1987 and the improvements made in multifactor productivity measurement since then. The improvements were made in response to developments in the economic literature, better data sources, and the needs of the user community. The paper also summarizes research that uses alternate data and methodologies to assess the accuracy of the Multifactor Productivity Program and to provide insights into areas that traditional international multifactor productivity programs omit. Finally, the paper outlines future directions that are being contemplated to further improve the measurement of productivity at Statistics Canada.
Release date: 2013-05-28 - Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2010027Description:
Measures of productivity are derived by comparing outputs and inputs. The System of National Accounts (SNA) in Canada provides a useful framework for organizing the information required for comparisons of this type. Integrated systems of economic accounts provide coherent, consistent alternate estimates of the various concepts that can be used to measure productivity.
Release date: 2010-06-29 - Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2008018Description:
Official data from statistical agencies are not always ideal for cross-country comparisons because of differences in data sources and methodology. Analysts who engage in cross-country comparisons need to carefully choose among alternatives and sometimes adapt data especially for their purposes. This paper develops comparable capital stock estimates to examine the relative capital intensity of Canada and the United States.
To do so, the paper applies common depreciation rates to Canadian and U.S. assets to come up with comparable capital stock estimates by assets and by industry between the two countries. Based on common depreciation rates, it finds that capital intensity is higher in the Canadian business sector than in the U.S. business sector. This is the net result of quite different ratios at the individual asset level. Canada has as higher intensity of engineering infrastructure assets per dollar of gross domestic product produced. Canada has a lower intensity of information and communications technology (ICT) machinery and equipment (M&E). Non-ICT M&E and building assets intensities are more alike in the two countries.
However, these results do not control for the fact that different asset-specific capital intensities between Canada and the United States may be the result of a different industrial structure. When both assets and industry structure are taken into account, the overall picture changes somewhat. Canada's business sector continues to have a higher intensity of engineering infrastructure and about the same intensity of building assets; however, it has a deficit in M&E that goes beyond ICT assets.
Release date: 2008-07-10 - Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2008017Description:
This paper provides an overview of the productivity program at Statistics Canada and a brief description of Canada's productivity performance. The paper defines productivity and the various measures that are used to investigate different aspects of productivity growth. It describes the difference between partial productivity measures (such as labour productivity) and a more complete measure (multifactor productivity) and the advantages and disadvantages of each. The paper explains why productivity is important. It outlines how productivity growth fits into the growth accounting framework and how this framework is used to examine the various sources of economic growth. The paper briefly discusses the challenges that face statisticians in measuring productivity growth. It also provides an overview of Canada's long-term productivity performance and compares Canada to the United States - both in terms of productivity levels and productivity growth rates.
Release date: 2008-02-25 - Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2007014Description:
The Canadian Productivity Accounts (CPA) of Statistics Canada maintain two multifactor productivity (MFP) programs.
The Major Sector Multifactor Productivity Program develops the indexes of MFP for the total business sector and major industry groups in the business sector.
The Industry Multifactor Productivity Program or the Industry KLEMS Productivity Program develops the industry productivity database that includes MFP indexes, output, capital (K), labour (L), energy (E), materials (M) and services (S) inputs for the individual industries of the business sector at various levels of industry aggregation. This paper describes the methodologies and data sources that are used to construct the major sector MFP indexes and the industry productivity database (or the KLEMS database). More specifically, this paper is meant to:provide a background of the major sector MFP program and the industry KLEMS productivity program;present the methodology for measuring MFP;describe the data sources and data available from the MFP programs;present a quality rating of the industry KLEMS productivity data; anddescribe the research agenda related to the MFP program.
Release date: 2007-12-06 - 6. Multifactor Productivity in Canada: An Evaluation of Alternative Methods of Estimating Capital Services ArchivedSurveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2007009Description:
This paper examines the effects of alternative specifications of the user costs of capital on the estimated price and volume indices of capital services. It asks how sensitive the results are to the use of exogenous versus endogenous rates of return, to alternate ways of including capital gains, and to whether corrections are made for tax rates. The paper also examines the effect of the various user cost formulae on the measured multifactor productivity growth.
Release date: 2007-04-04 - 7. Producing Hours Worked for the SNA in Order to Measure Productivity: The Canadian Experience ArchivedSurveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 15-206-X2006004Description:
This paper provides a brief description of the methodology currently used to produce the annual volume of hours worked consistent with the System of National Accounts (SNA). These data are used for labour input in the annual and quarterly measures of labour productivity, as well as in the annual measures of multifactor productivity. For this purpose, hours worked are broken down by educational level and age group, so that changes in the composition of the labour force can be taken into account. They are also used to calculate hourly compensation and the unit labour cost and for simulations of the SNA Input-Output Model; as such, they are integrated as labour force inputs into most SNA satellite accounts (i.e., environment, tourism).
Release date: 2006-10-27 - 8. The Micro-Economic Analysis Division: The Role of Analysis in Delivering Information Products ArchivedSurveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11F0026M2004001Description:
This paper describes how the analytical program of Statistics Canada's productivity group is used to enhance the quality (relevance, coherence, interpretability) of its products.
Release date: 2004-07-08
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