Table 1
Business sector: Labour productivity and related variables for Canada and the United States1 – Seasonally adjusted
| First quarter 2019 | Second quarter 2019 | Third quarter 2019 | Fourth quarter 2019 | First quarter 2020 | Second quarter 2020 | Third quarter 2020 | Fourth quarter 2020 | First quarter 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % 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 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | -0.1 | 4.1 | 12.8 | -9.8 | -2.1 | -1.7 |
| Real gross domestic product (GDP) | -0.0 | 1.3 | 0.4 | -0.0 | -2.6 | -13.8 | 11.1 | 2.5 | 1.5 |
| Hours worked | -0.4 | 0.8 | -0.1 | 0.0 | -6.4 | -23.6 | 23.1 | 4.8 | 3.2 |
| Hourly compensation | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 4.0 | 16.8 | -11.3 | -2.0 | -1.6 |
| Unit labour cost | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 1.2 | -0.1 | 3.5 | -1.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Exchange rate2 | -0.7 | -0.5 | 1.2 | 0.1 | -1.8 | -3.0 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 3.0 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | 0.4 | -0.5 | 2.3 | 1.3 | -1.9 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 3.0 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 | -0.1 | 2.4 | 1.3 | -1.1 | 1.3 |
| Real GDP | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | -1.5 | -10.8 | 9.6 | 1.4 | 2.0 |
| Hours worked | -0.0 | -0.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | -1.5 | -13.0 | 8.1 | 2.6 | 0.7 |
| Hourly compensation | 2.3 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 5.5 | -1.2 | 0.2 | 1.3 |
| Unit labour cost | 1.3 | -0.2 | -0.1 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.9 | -2.5 | 1.4 | -0.1 |
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Second quarter 2020 | Third quarter 2020 | Fourth quarter 2020 | First quarter 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % 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 | -0.1 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 8.1 | 17.9 | 5.9 | 3.7 | -2.1 |
| Real GDP | 0.5 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 1.7 | -7.0 | -15.7 | -6.7 | -4.4 | -0.4 |
| Hours worked | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.7 | -13.5 | -28.5 | -12.0 | -7.8 | 1.7 |
| Hourly compensation | -1.3 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 11.6 | 24.7 | 8.9 | 5.5 | -0.2 |
| Unit labour cost | -1.3 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 5.7 | 2.9 | 1.7 | 2.0 |
| Exchange rate2 | -3.6 | 2.1 | 0.1 | -2.3 | -1.1 | -3.5 | -0.8 | 1.2 | 6.2 |
| Unit labour cost in US dollars | -4.8 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 8.2 |
| United States3 | |||||||||
| Labour productivity | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 4.0 |
| Real GDP | 1.9 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 2.4 | -4.1 | -11.0 | -3.1 | -2.5 | 1.1 |
| Hours worked | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 0.7 | -6.5 | -13.4 | -7.0 | -4.9 | -2.8 |
| Hourly compensation | 1.1 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 6.4 | 8.6 | 7.3 | 6.6 | 5.7 |
| Unit labour cost | 0.7 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 3.8 | 5.6 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 1.7 |
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: First Quarter 2021, Preliminary—published in a news release on May 6. Because of 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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