National culture indicators, first quarter 2022
Released: 2022-07-08
Real gross domestic product (GDP) for the culture and sport sectors in Canada was up 1.1% to $15.3 billion in the first quarter, following a 3.6% increase in the fourth quarter of 2021. By comparison, real GDP for the total economy rose 0.8% during the first quarter of 2022.
On a nominal basis, GDP for the overall culture and sport sectors increased 2.2% to $17.5 billion, bringing it 5.6% above the level observed before the COVID-19 pandemic (in the fourth quarter of 2019). By the end of the first quarter of 2022, the total number of jobs in the culture and sport sectors rose 0.6% compared with the previous quarter to 766,196.
This release marks the first annual revision of the National Culture Indicators, with quarterly data revised back to the first quarter of 2018, to incorporate changes from the latest Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2020.
Culture gross domestic product increases for the seventh consecutive quarter
Nominal culture GDP increased 2.5% to $16.0 billion during the first quarter of 2022; it has been steadily rising since the third quarter of 2020.
Culture GDP was up for 8 of the 9 culture domains, led by the sound recording (+4.3%), audio-visual and interactive media (+3.8%), and visual and applied arts (+3.2%) domains. The heritage and libraries domain was the only one to post a decline in nominal GDP (-1.2%). On a sub-domain level, strong gains were seen in interactive media, design and sound recording. Growth in software publishing and computer systems design, particularly video game design and development, helped bolster the increase in the interactive media and design sub-domains.
Sport GDP decreased by 1.0% to $1.6 billion. All of the decline came from the organized sport sub-domain, as professional sports teams played without fans or with a limited number of fans, depending on the province, for about half of the quarter.
Chart 1
Culture and sport nominal gross domestic product (GDP), quarterly
Continued job gains in Canada's culture and sport sectors
Employment in the culture and sport sectors was up 0.6% during the first quarter, and has increased for the last four quarters, but was still down 1.4% compared with the level observed before the COVID-19 pandemic (fourth quarter of 2019).
Culture sector jobs were up 1.3% to 677,448, led by increases in the visual and applied arts (+3,953 jobs, or +2.6%) and live performance (+3,027 jobs, or +4.9%) domains, followed by governance, funding and professional support (+824 jobs, or +0.9%).
Declines in employment were seen in both the audio-visual and interactive media domain and the written and published works domain. Decreases in audio-visual and interactive media were driven mainly by the film and video sub-domain and the broadcasting sub-domain. An increase in interactive media mitigated those declines, as jobs in this sub-domain have been steadily rising, with growth tied to increases in computer systems design and related services. Parallel to sport GDP, sport jobs decreased in the first quarter of 2022, down 3.9% to 88,748, with declines seen primarily in organized sport.
Chart 2
Change in jobs by culture domain, first quarter of 2022
Culture and sport in the wake of the pandemic
The pandemic disproportionally disrupted certain parts of the culture sector, with some areas being more negatively impacted than others. At the onset of the pandemic, nominal culture GDP dropped to its lowest level on record (-14.0%). Subsequent consecutive quarterly gains saw GDP surpass its pre-pandemic level by the fourth quarter of 2021.
In the first quarter of 2022, culture GDP was 6.0% above its pre-pandemic level, with 6 of the 9 culture domains at or above levels observed in the fourth quarter of 2019. For instance, the sound recording domain, which contracted 21.3% in the second quarter of 2020, fully recovered and exceeded pre-pandemic levels (+5.6%).
In contrast, the live performance domain saw GDP fall to its lowest level on record since the series began, dropping almost half (-45.4%) in the second quarter of 2020. It had yet to fully recover in the first quarter of 2022 and sat at 10.3% below its pre-pandemic level.
In regard to job levels, a number of culture domains surpassed pre-pandemic levels in the last several quarters and further exceeded them in the first quarter. This was the case, notably, with the visual and applied arts domain; the audio-visual and interactive media domain; and the governance, funding and professional support domain.
The live performance domain saw jobs drop to their lowest level on record (-43.1%) in the second quarter of 2020, and they had yet to fully recover in the first quarter of 2022 (12.3% below pre-pandemic levels).
The fourth quarter of 2021 marked the first time sport GDP exceeded pre-pandemic levels, and it remained above these levels in the first quarter of 2022, driven primarily by increases in the education and training domain and the governance, funding and professional support domain.
Launch of the National Culture Indicators dashboard
With this release, Statistics Canada is launching the National Culture Indicators: Interactive tool. This interactive tool will provide current and historical quarterly data on culture and sport GDP, output and jobs. The tool will give users the ability to compare quarterly data on culture and sport in Canada, by domain and sub-domain.
Note to readers
The National Culture Indicators are an extension of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account and the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators (PTCI).
Data
Data are available for gross domestic product (GDP) in both nominal, basic prices and constant prices (2012 prices).
Data on real GDP (corrected for prices changes) are provided as a means to examine economic growth within the culture and sport sectors, as well as comparisons with other sectors.
Unless otherwise stated, GDP in this release refers to nominal GDP, at basic prices.
Growth rates in this release are represented as the percentage change in the series from one quarter to the next.
Data have been seasonally adjusted. All data are based on the product perspective.
Definitions
Culture GDP is the economic value added associated with culture activities. This is the value added related to the production of culture goods and services across the economy, regardless of the producing industry.
Culture jobs are the number of jobs that are related to the production of culture goods and services.
Sport GDP is the economic value added associated with sport activities. This is the value added related to the production of sport goods and services across the economy, regardless of the producing industry.
Sport jobs are the number of jobs that are related to the production of sport goods and services.
Current and annual revisions
Data for the first quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2021 have been revised to incorporate changes from the recent 2020 PTCI. The PTCI (annual) and National Culture Indicators (sum of four quarters) will align for the supply and use table (SUT) benchmark years. Non-SUT benchmark years will align at the domain level, but may not align at the sub-domain level.
Products
The data visualization product "National Culture Indicators: Interactive tool," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is now available.
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
The Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X) is available.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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