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Productivity

Domain

Prosperity

Subdomain

Income and growth

Indicator

Productivity


Definition

Business sector labour productivity as measured by real gross domestic product (GDP) per hour worked.


Measurement

This indicator is measured through the quarterly national and annual provincial and territorial programs of Canadian Productivity Accounts (CPA). These accounts produce quarterly national and annual provincial and territorial data on labour productivity, number of jobs, hours worked, unit labour costs and a variety of related variables. For more information on labour productivity measures from the CPA please refer to Labour Productivity Measures - National (Quarterly) and Labour Productivity Measures – Provinces and Territories (Annual).

Business sector labour productivity measures real gross domestic product (GDP) per hour worked within the business sector.

GDP measures the total unduplicated value of the goods and services produced in the economic territory of a country or region during a given period. This indicator uses quarterly or annual real GDP in chained dollars.

The business sector covers Non-Financial Corporations (S11), Financial Corporations (S12), and unincorporated businesses that are classified to the household sector (S14) and are involved in the production of goods and services (i.e., sole proprietorships).


Data sources


Data analysis


Additional information

Productivity gains occur when the production of goods and services grows faster than the volume of work dedicated to their production.

Economic performance, as measured by labour productivity, must be interpreted carefully, as these data reflect changes in other inputs, in particular capital, in addition to the efficiency growth of production processes. As well, growth in labour productivity is often influenced by the degree of diversity in the industrial structure. As a result, labour productivity tends to be more volatile in the smaller provinces.

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