Table 1
Business sector: Labour productivity and related variables for Canada and the United States1 – Seasonally adjusted
| Second quarter 2017 | Third quarter 2017 | Fourth quarter 2017 | First quarter 2018 | Second quarter 2018 | Third quarter 2018 | Fourth quarter 2018 | First quarter 2019 | Second quarter 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % 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 | 0.1 | -0.7 | 0.3 | -0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | -0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Real gross domestic product (GDP) | 1.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | -0.1 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Hours worked | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | -0.4 | 0.8 |
| Hourly compensation | -0.4 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.0 | -0.2 | -0.1 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| Unit labour cost | -0.5 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | -0.5 | -0.2 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| Exchange rate2 | -1.6 | 7.3 | -1.5 | 0.6 | -2.1 | -1.2 | -1.0 | -0.7 | -0.5 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | -2.2 | 9.5 | 0.1 | 0.9 | -2.5 | -1.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | -0.0 | 0.9 | 0.6 |
| Real GDP | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
| Hours worked | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | -0.1 |
| Hourly compensation | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 1.2 |
| Unit labour cost | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 | -0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 0.6 |
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | Third quarter 2018 | Fourth quarter 2018 | First quarter 2019 | Second quarter 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % 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 | 3.2 | -0.7 | 0.3 | 1.9 | -0.3 | 0.3 | -0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Real GDP | 3.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.4 |
| Hours worked | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Hourly compensation | 3.9 | 2.0 | -1.3 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 3.1 |
| Unit labour cost | 0.7 | 2.7 | -1.6 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 2.8 |
| Exchange rate2 | -6.7 | -13.6 | -3.6 | 2.1 | 0.1 | -4.1 | -3.7 | -4.9 | -3.4 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | -6.1 | -11.2 | -5.1 | 3.0 | 2.3 | -3.0 | -2.9 | -3.3 | -0.8 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 0.7 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| Real GDP | 3.1 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 2.7 |
| Hours worked | 2.4 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| Hourly compensation | 2.6 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 4.3 |
| Unit labour cost | 1.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 |
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: Second Quarter 2019, Preliminary — published in news release, August 15. 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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