Gross domestic product, income and expenditure, first quarter 2024
Released: 2024-05-31
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.4% in the first quarter, after posting no change in the fourth quarter of 2023 (revised down from 0.2%). In the first quarter of 2024, higher household spending on services was the top contributor to the increase in GDP, while slower inventory accumulations moderated overall growth.
Chart 1
Real gross domestic product and final domestic demand
Chart 2
Contributions to percentage change in real gross domestic product, first quarter of 2024
Household spending on services rises
Household spending increased by 0.7% in the first quarter, primarily due to a 1.1% rise in spending on services, primarily telecommunications services, rent and air transport. Lower spending by non-residents in Canada also contributed to the increase in overall household expenditures. Household spending on goods edged up 0.3%, with higher expenditures on new trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles.
On a per capita basis, household final consumption expenditures edged up 0.1% in the first quarter, following three quarters of declines. Per capita spending on services increased 0.5%, while per capita spending on goods fell for the 10th consecutive quarter.
Chart 3
Change in total and per capita real household final consumption expenditure
Little change in net trade
Exports of goods and services rose 0.5% in the first quarter, following a 0.8% increase in the fourth quarter of 2023. The leading contributor to the increase in the first quarter of 2024 was exports of unwrought gold, silver, and platinum group metals, which rose on higher exports to United Kingdom and Switzerland. Lower exports of passenger cars and light trucks, as well as of crude oil and bitumen, moderated the overall increase.
Imports of goods and services edged up 0.4% in the first quarter, following a 0.2% increase in the fourth quarter of 2023. Higher imports of clothing, footwear and textile products led the increase in the first quarter of 2024, followed by waste and scrap of metal and glass, as well as electricity. These gains were partially offset by declines in imports of passenger cars and light trucks amid lower global production.
The ratio of the price of exports to the price of imports—the terms of trade—fell 1.2% in the first quarter. The terms of trade have fallen in six of the last seven quarters.
Chart 4
Volumes of exports and imports
Business investment up on higher spending on engineering and machinery and equipment
Business capital investment rose 0.8% in the first quarter, driven by increased spending on engineering structures, primarily within the oil and gas sector. Business investment in machinery and equipment increased 1.6% in the first quarter, coinciding with increased imports of industrial machinery, equipment and parts.
Resale activity drives housing investment, while new construction is flat
Housing investment edged up 0.3% in the first quarter, as ownership transfer costs, which represent resale activity, rose 7.1%. Ontario (+6.5%), British Columbia (+10.3%) and Quebec (+12.4%) recorded the largest volume increases in resales, while prices in these provinces fell in the first quarter.
New housing construction (+0.1%) was little changed in the first quarter, as work put in place decreased for all dwelling types except double houses. Costs related to new construction, such as taxes and closing fees upon change in ownership, increased in the quarter and were mainly attributable to newly absorbed apartment units in Ontario.
Chart 5
Housing investment
Widespread slowdowns in business investment in inventories
Businesses continued to add to their non-farm inventories in the first quarter (+$30.8 billion) but at a slower pace compared with the fourth quarter of 2023 (+$40.3 billion). While accumulations eased in most industries in the first quarter of 2024, retail motor vehicles recorded the largest deceleration, accumulating inventory at half the pace of the previous quarter.
The stock-to-sales ratio was 1.1 in the first quarter; excluding gold, it was below 0.97.
Gross domestic product deflator down on lower export prices
The GDP deflator declined 0.3% in the first quarter, as export prices fell 1.3%. Prices for household final consumption rose 0.5%, the smallest increase since the second quarter of 2020, when prices fell.
Chart 6
Gross domestic product price indexes, selected components
Compensation of employees rises
Compensation of employees rose 1.5% in the first quarter of 2024, after growing 0.9% in the fourth quarter of 2023. The stronger growth rate was due in part to the services-producing industries, which rose 1.8% in the first quarter of 2024 after increasing 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023. The goods-producing industries grew 0.7% in the first quarter of 2024 on the heels of a 0.4% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Total wages and salaries in educational services rose 5.9% in the first quarter of 2024, driven by Quebec, where there was strike action in the previous quarter. Wages and salaries in professional and personal services industries (+1.8%) and trade (+2.7%) were other major contributors to wage growth. Wages and salaries in federal government public administration fell 6.4% in the first quarter, after rising 11.8% in the previous quarter due to significant retroactive payments following the signing of new collective agreements. Outside of the decline in federal government public administration, only mining and oil and gas extraction (-1.1%) recorded a drop in wages and salaries.
Map 1
Compensation of employees, quarter-to-quarter % change, seasonally adjusted data
Household savings reaches highest rate since early 2022
The household savings rate reached 6.9% in the first quarter, the highest rate since the first quarter of 2022, as gains in disposable income (+1.8%) outweighed increases in nominal consumption expenditure (+1.2%). Income gains were derived mainly from wages, as well as from net investment income.
Investment income (+4.0%) grew strongly in the first quarter of 2024 due to widespread gains from interest-bearing instruments and dividends. Higher income households tend to benefit more from interest rate increases through property income received.
Household property income payments, comprised of mortgage and non-mortgage interest expenses, rose 3.5% in the first quarter; among the lowest increases seen since the first quarter of 2022, when the Bank of Canada's series of policy rate increases began. Lower income households tend to be more negatively affected by interest rate increases through property income paid.
Corporate incomes
In the first quarter of 2024, corporate incomes fell 4.9%, after rising 2.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023. The lower gross operating surplus of non-financial corporations was fuelled by decreases in the oil and gas sector, where price declines reduced incomes. Gross operating surplus of financial corporations edged up 0.3% in the first quarter of 2024, entirely attributable to charter banks.
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Sustainable development goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the following 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
Data on gross domestic product, income and expenditure are an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to measure the following goals:
Note to readers
Gross domestic product (GDP) data for the first quarter of 2024 have been released along with updated data for all quarters of 2023. Updates to the first quarter to the fourth quarter of 2023 were due to the incorporation of updated source data and the intentions estimates from the Annual Capital and Repair Expenditures Survey. Additionally, new survey results from Statistics Canada's National Travel Survey (imports) and Visitor Travel Survey (exports) were integrated.
Revisions to Canada's gross domestic product
To satisfy the opposing goals for both timeliness and accuracy, Statistics Canada regularly updates (revises) its estimates of Canada's GDP. Further details are outlined in the following article, "Revisions to Canada's GDP."
Accounting for e-commerce transactions with non-resident vendors
The indicators used to estimate Household Final Consumption Expenditure have been adjusted to account for non-resident e-commerce sales. The Monthly Retail Trade Survey collects data only on resident vendor e-commerce sales. The non-resident vendor e-commerce adjustment, which is applied to the indicators to estimate household consumption, mainly the Retail Commodity Survey, is a non-seasonally adjusted, quarterly value. This adjustment has been in place since the fourth quarter of 2019. For the first quarter of 2024, the adjustment represents 706.6 million dollars, applied to the household consumption indicators. The adjustment is derived using sources such as details from customs transactions, GST remittances and financial statements for certain enterprises.
General
Percentage changes for expenditure-based statistics (such as household spending, investment and exports) are calculated from volume measures that are adjusted for price variations. Percentage changes for income-based statistics (such as compensation of employees and operating surplus) are calculated from nominal values; that is, they are not adjusted for price variations. Unless otherwise stated, growth rates represent the percentage change in the series from one quarter to the next: for instance, from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024.
For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Real-time tables
Real-time tables 36-10-0430-01 and 36-10-0431-01 will be updated on June 10, 2024.
Next release
Data on GDP by income and expenditure for the second quarter will be released on August 30.
Products
The data visualization product "Gross domestic product by income and expenditure: Interactive tool," which is part of the Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products series (71-607-X), is now available.
The document "Revisions to Canada's GDP," which is part of Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X), is now available.
The document, "Recording new COVID measures in the national accounts," which is part of Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-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 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
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