Table 1
Business sector: Labour productivity and related variables for Canada and the United States1 – Seasonally adjusted
| Third quarter 2018 | Fourth quarter 2018 | First quarter 2019 | Second quarter 2019 | Third quarter 2019 | Fourth quarter 2019 | First quarter 2020 | Second quarter 2020 | Third quarter 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % 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 | 0.5 | -0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | -0.1 | 4.9 | 10.5 | -10.3 |
| Real gross domestic product (GDP) | 0.9 | 0.0 | -0.0 | 1.3 | 0.4 | -0.0 | -2.5 | -14.2 | 11.2 |
| Hours worked | 0.3 | 0.4 | -0.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -7.0 | -22.3 | 24.0 |
| Hourly compensation | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 5.2 | 15.4 | -11.6 |
| Unit labour cost | -0.0 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 4.4 | -1.5 |
| Exchange rate2 | -1.2 | -1.0 | -0.7 | -0.5 | 1.2 | 0.1 | -1.8 | -3.0 | 4.0 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | -1.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | -0.4 | 2.3 | 1.2 | -1.5 | 1.3 | 2.5 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | -0.0 | 2.3 | 1.6 |
| Real GDP | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | -1.5 | -10.8 | 9.5 |
| Hours worked | 0.5 | 0.2 | -0.0 | -0.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | -1.5 | -12.9 | 7.8 |
| Hourly compensation | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 0.4 | -0.0 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 4.5 | -0.8 |
| Unit labour cost | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.2 | -0.1 | -0.1 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 2.2 | -2.4 |
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Fourth quarter 2019 | First quarter 2020 | Second quarter 2020 | Third quarter 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % 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 | -0.6 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 5.5 | 16.3 | 4.0 |
| Real GDP | 0.3 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 1.6 | -0.8 | -16.0 | -6.9 |
| Hours worked | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.8 | -6.0 | -27.7 | -10.5 |
| Hourly compensation | 2.0 | -1.3 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 8.3 | 24.4 | 8.4 |
| Unit labour cost | 2.7 | -1.4 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 7.0 | 4.3 |
| Exchange rate2 | -13.6 | -3.6 | 2.1 | 0.1 | -2.3 | 0.1 | -1.1 | -3.5 | -0.8 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | -11.2 | -4.9 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 1.5 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 4.3 |
| Real GDP | 3.8 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 0.2 | -11.0 | -3.2 |
| Hours worked | 2.3 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.8 | -0.8 | -13.3 | -7.2 |
| Hourly compensation | 2.9 | 1.1 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 7.6 | 6.7 |
| Unit labour cost | 1.4 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 4.8 | 2.4 |
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: Third Quarter 2020, Preliminary — published in news release, November 5. 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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