Key definitions and concepts
Culture and sport
Within the CSA, culture is defined as a creative artistic activity and the goods and services produced by this creative activity and the preservation of heritage.
Sport is defined as an individual or group activity, often pursued for fitness in leisure time, fun or competition. This includes recreational sports and physical activities, as well as professional, semi-professional or amateur sport clubs and independent athletes that are primarily engaged in presenting sporting events before an audience.
Production and output
Production is the process of combining labour, capital, energy, material and service inputs to produce goods and services.
Output consists of those goods or services that are produced within an establishment that become available for use outside that establishment or in some special cases within the producing establishment. There are three types of output within the CSA: market output and non-market output and for own final use. Market output consists of goods and services sold at an economically significant price-a price that has a significant influence on the amounts that producers are willing to supply and the amounts that purchasers wish to buy. Non-market output comprises goods and services that are not sold on the market and are generally valued at cost. For instance, free art exhibits in which services are provided by volunteers would be considered non-market output. Output for own final use consists of products retained by the producer for their own final use as consumption or investment. Only market and non-market output are measured in the CSA.
Goods and services
The distinction between goods and services is important. A good is a tangible product that can be stocked or placed in inventory. An example of a good is photographic equipment or a book. A service, on the other hand, is generally consumed at the place and time it is bought. Services cover a wide and complex variety of transactions on products that are generally intangible in nature. An example of a service is admission to a live performance or a museum exhibition.
Valuation and pricing
Goods and services in the CSA are valued at basic prices. The basic price of a good or service is its selling price before wholesale, retail and transportation margins and before product taxes like the Value Added taxes. This price reflects the revenues received by producers from the sale of these goods and services. This is different from the market prices which include the margins and taxes noted above to better reflect the price paid by the consumer of the culture good or service.
In order to illustrate the difference between the two consider the following example which decomposes the market price of a culture good/service ($63.25) into its components (basic price, retail margin and taxes).
$63.25 (culture good/service) = $45 (basic price) + $10 (retail margin) + $8.25 (15% HST)
The CSA presents information at nominal or current prices, that is, there is no attempt to estimate the volume of culture goods and services produced in a given year.
Culture products
The CFCS framework uses a number of criteria to determine what is and is not a culture product. A product is determined to be culture if it satisfies the general definition of culture (noted above) and satisfies one or more of the following criteria:1
1. The product must have copyright protection potential.
2. The product must support the creation, production, dissemination or preservation of culture.
3. It adds to the content of a culture product.
4. It preserves exhibits or interprets human or natural heritage.
5. It provides culture training or educational services.
6. It governs, finances, or supports directly culture.
In the context of the CSA, and following the CFCS, culture goods are defined as original and mass-produced goods which contain culture content, resulting from creative artistic activity. A culture service on the other hand is defined to include creative services (which can, in turn, include copyright payments or receipts), content services (services that add to, or alter a culture product), broadcasts, live performances and other culture events (such as museum exhibits).
Culture industries
A culture industry is one for which culture products (goods or services) make up the most significant part of its output. For instance, in the live performance industry, culture products represent the majority of its output even though they have secondary activity related to the sale of food and beverages. The CFCS, and therefore the CSA, also include industries involved in the ‘creative chain’.
Industry perspective
The industry perspective is simply the presentation of culture activity by industry. In the CSA set of industry perspective tables, the culture industries are grouped under their respective domains and sub-domains.
Product perspective
The product perspective is simply grouping like products (regardless of industry of origin) together. For example, books may be produced in more than one industry. In the product perspective, all of the activity related to the production of books is grouped together.
Gross Domestic Product
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or value added is a key measure of economic performance in the CSA. It represents the output of an industry minus the value of intermediate inputs that were used up in the production of the culture goods and services.
Employment
Employment data (i.e., number of jobs) comes from the Canadian Productivity Accounts of the CSMA. It represents the number of jobs held by the self-employed, employees and unpaid2 family workers. It should be noted that a job that exists for only part of the year (e.g., 4 months) counts as only a fraction of a job (1/3 of a job) for the year. It should also be noted that a part-time job at 10 hours a week counts as much as a full-time job at 50 hours a week.3
GDP of culture industries
The GDP of culture industries is the measure of GDP for each of the culture industries. It covers all of their outputs - culture and non-culture products. For example, the performing arts industry may generate GDP from both admissions to live performances (a culture activity) and food and beverages services (a non-culture activity). The GDP for both activities is included in the GDP of culture industries.
This is the standard measure of industry based GDP, consistent with previous Statistics Canada studies4 of culture’s economic contribution in Canada. It is the measure to use for inter-industry comparisons.
Culture GDP
Culture GDP is the value added related to the production of culture goods and/or services across the economy regardless of the producing industry. For example, for the performing arts industry which may generate GDP from admissions to live performances and food and beverages services (a non-culture activity) only the GDP from admissions to live performances (the culture activity) will be counted. However, it will also include any GDP from admissions to live performances produced outside of the live performance industry.
The culture GDP measures the GDP from the production of all culture goods and services in the Canadian economy
- regardless of the industry in which they are produced.
Employment in culture industries
Employment in culture industries is measured by the number of jobs in each of the culture industries. It covers all jobs in the industry required to produce both culture and non-culture output. For example, the performing arts industry may require an individual to collect admissions tickets to a live performance (job from culture activity) and a bartender in the food and beverages services (a job from a non-culture activity). Both jobs are included in the estimate of employment in culture industries.
Culture jobs
Culture jobs are defined as the number of jobs that are related to the production of culture goods and/or services in that industry. Therefore it covers only the jobs in the industry required to produce culture activities. Using the example above, only the individual selling admissions tickets would be in the estimate of culture jobs.
GDP of sport industries
The GDP of sport industries is the measure of output from all sport industries. It covers all of their outputs-sport and non-sport products. For example, a sporting event may generate GDP from both, admissions to the sporting event (a sport activity) and food and beverages services (a non-sport activity). The GDP associated with both of these products would be included in the GDP of sport industries.
Sport GDP
Sport GDP is defined as the value added in an industry that is related to the production of sport goods and/or across the economy regardless of the producing industry. For example, for a sporting event which generates GDP from admissions to sporting events (a sport activity) and food and beverages services (a non-sport activity), only the GDP from admissions to sporting event (the sport activity) will be included in Sport GDP. However, it will also include any GDP from admissions to sporting events produced outside the sport industries.
Employment in sport industries
Employment in sport industries is the number of jobs in each of the sport industries. It covers all jobs in the industry required to produce both sport and non-sport products. For example, a sporting event will need jobs for both admissions to sporting events (a sport activity) and food and beverages services (a non-sport activity). Both of these jobs will be included in the estimate of employment in sport industries.
Sport jobs
Sport jobs are defined as the number of jobs that are related to the production of sport goods and/or services regardless of the industry. For example, a sporting event may have two jobs: a job collecting admissions to sporting events (a job from sport activity) and bartender in the food and beverages services (a job from non-sport activity).
1. See CFCS 2011 for more detailed discussion of criteria.
2. Unpaid family workers are persons who work without pay in a business, farm or professional practice owned and operated by another family member living in the same dwelling.
3. This measure of employment differs conceptually from employment measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Within the LFS an individual can only have a single job, while - within the CSA a person can have more than one job and those jobs can be in different industries.
4. See Statistics Canada 2004 and Statistics Canada 2007a.
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