National culture indicators, third quarter 2023
Released: 2024-01-12
Third quarter 2023
-1.5% 
(quarterly change)
702,842 jobs
Third quarter 2023
-1.5%
(quarterly change)
Third quarter 2023
0.5% 
(quarterly change)
109,670 jobs
Third quarter 2023
1.3%
(quarterly change)
Real gross domestic product (GDP) for the combined culture and sport sectors in Canada fell 1.3% in the third quarter. This was the first decrease in real GDP for the sectors since the second quarter of 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the decline in the third quarter of 2023 was larger than the 0.3% decrease seen for the total economy in the same quarter, the difference is driven mostly by an exceptional decline in the film and video subdomain. On a nominal basis, GDP for the combined culture and sport sectors was down 0.6% in the third quarter.
Jobs in the combined culture and sport sectors decreased 1.1% in the third quarter, falling to 812,512. This was the second consecutive quarterly decrease for the combined sectors. These two quarterly declines were the only ones since the second quarter of 2020, shortly after the start of the pandemic.
Culture and sport gross domestic product heading in opposite directions during third quarter
Nominal GDP declined 0.8% in the culture sector during the third quarter, following an increase of 0.6% in the second quarter. In the third quarter, declines were seen in over half of the culture subdomains. The largest decline was seen in the audio-visual and interactive media domain (-2.8%) as the film and video subdomain experienced a 9.6% decrease for the quarter. This was the largest decrease in the subdomain since the peak of the pandemic's economic impact in the second quarter of 2020, and the second-largest decrease seen since the start of the series in 2012. This coincided with strike action from the screenwriters' union and film and televisions actors' union for Hollywood. While these are primarily American unions and their Canadian equivalents did not experience labour action, the spillover effect into Canada was quite noticeable, with production halted on American-produced shows if those shows relied on striking American screenwriters or actors.
Growth was seen in a few culture domains in the third quarter of 2023. The strongest increase was in the governance, funding and professional support domain (+2.5%), with increases also seen in sound recording (+1.8%), education and training (+1.2%) and live performance (+0.6%).
The sport sector experienced a 1.3% increase in the third quarter, largely unchanged from the prior quarter (+1.5%). The governance, funding and professional support domain led here, up 1.8%.
Chart 1
Culture and sport nominal gross domestic product (GDP), quarterly
Recent labour action causing volatility in culture jobs
Jobs in the culture sector were down 1.5% in the third quarter to 702,842, a second consecutive decrease following a 0.8% decline in the second quarter. The film and video subdomain led this decrease in both the second quarter (-5,268) and third quarter (-12,077) of the year as an array of Canadian workers were impacted, with actors, makeup artists, craft services, and many others who work on American-produced shows filmed in Canada unable to work due to the strikes. Removing the film and video subdomain from the total, culture jobs would have been up slightly during the third quarter.
The main domain that partially offset the overall decline in total culture jobs was the governance, funding and professional support domain, up 2,536 jobs (+2.6%) in the third quarter after the federal government strike caused a small decline in the second quarter.
The number of sport sector jobs grew 1.3% in the third quarter to 109,670 jobs. Growth was seen in all subdomains, led by organized sport (+758 jobs).
Chart 2
Change in jobs by culture domain, third quarter of 2023
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Note to readers
The National Culture Indicators (NCI) are an extension of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account (PTCSA) and the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators (PTCI).
Information on the types of activities included in the culture domains and subdomains are available as part of the Canadian Culture Satellite Account overview. The overview describes the concepts, methods and sources that underlie the PTCSA, PTCI and NCI. Supply and Use Product Classification mappings by subdomain are also available there.
Revisions
Alongside the release of data for the third quarter of 2023, data for the first and second quarters of 2023 have been revised.
As of the release for the third quarter of 2023, volume and price estimates for the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) income and expenditure accounts and the monthly GDP by industry were updated to the 2017 (2017=100) reference year. Updating to the new reference year for the NCI will occur during the release for the first quarter of 2024 (to be released on June 27, 2024), alongside the incorporation of revisions from the 2022 PTCI as part of the usual revisions cycle.
Data
Data are available for GDP in both nominal, basic prices and constant prices (2012 prices).
Data on real GDP (corrected for price changes) are provided as a means to examine economic growth within culture and sport, as well as to make 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 unless otherwise stated.
Data have been seasonally adjusted. All data are based on the product perspective.
Changes in prices of select digital industries
The prices for certain digital industries, particularly those involved in subscription/streaming services, have been changed to better reflect their modern distribution methods. When the NCI were initially produced, the price indicators selected for certain industries that historically relied on physical media and/or sales of digital rights were too heavily weighted towards the sale of physical and digital copies of the products. The price indexes used to estimate these have been redeveloped to better incorporate subscription and other digital prices. Consequently, users may see significant changes to the constant dollar values for film and video, sound recording and music publishing. Users should also expect revisions to constant dollar values, albeit smaller, for certain publishing industries and related subdomains, such as libraries and archives, and the multi-domain.
Audio-visual and interactive media and visual and applied arts
Starting in the first quarter of 2016, revisions were introduced to the video game publishing, design and development industries and the computer systems design and related services industry to improve estimates around video game development and website design. These improvements impact the design subdomain of the visual and applied arts domain and the interactive media subdomain of the audio-visual and interactive media domain.
There is a noticeable break in the data series for the interactive media and design subdomains from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016. This break does not represent a real change in economic conditions. Estimates prior to the first quarter of 2016 are on the old basis and should be used with caution.
Products
The data visualization product "National Culture Indicators: Interactive tool," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is 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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