Labour productivity

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All (54)

All (54) (10 to 20 of 54 results)

  • Articles and reports: 11-626-X2016057
    Description:

    This Economic Insights article addresses the extent to which immigrants contribute to economic growth. For the first time, the business ownership and job-creation activities of immigrants are addressed. A longer, more detailed study is also available.

    Release date: 2016-03-21

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2014036
    Description:

    Leasing is an important means of gaining access to assets, of obtaining finance, and of reducing a lessee’s exposure to the risks inherent to asset ownership. A lease can be either a financial lease (capital lease) or an operating lease (capital rental). A financial lease is one where the legal owner of an asset (lessor) passes the economic ownership to the user of the asset (lessee), who then accepts the operating risks and receives the economic benefits from using the asset in a productive activity. Under an operating lease, the lessor is both the legal owner and the economic owner of the asset leased (rented), bearing the operating risks and receiving the economic benefits from the asset. The lessor transfers only the right to use the asset to the lessee.

    Leasing offers firms the possibility to acquire the right to use capital assets under terms that differ from those prevailing through other financial instruments. The recording of leased assets in the Canadian System of National Accounts is ownership-based rather than user-based. The separation of capital ownership, in particular legal ownership, from the use of capital assets poses challenges to productivity measurement. To obtain consistent productivity measures at an industry level, leased and rented capital assets must be reallocated from owners’ accounts to users’ accounts. By using the General Index of Financial Information (GIFI) corporate balance sheets and detailed input-output tables, this paper tests the robustness of existing practices of data collection on leased and rented capital.

    Release date: 2014-07-22

  • Articles and reports: 11F0027M2014092
    Geography: Province or territory
    Description:

    Using data from the Provincial KLEMS database, this paper asks whether provincial economies have undergone structural change in their business sectors since 2000. It does so by applying a measure of industrial change (the dissimilarity index) using measures of output (real GDP) and hours worked. The paper also develops a statistical methodology to test whether the shifts in the industrial composition of output and hours worked over the period are due to random year-over-year changes in industrial structure or long-term systematic change in the structure of provincial economies. The paper is designed to inform discussion and analysis of recent changes in industrial composition at the national level, notably, the decline in manufacturing output and the concomitant rise of resource industries, and the implications of this change for provincial economies.

    Release date: 2014-05-07

  • Articles and reports: 11F0027M2014088
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This paper compares the relative importance of small and large firms in the business sectors of Canada and the United States from 2002 to 2008 using estimates of the contribution of small and large firms to the gross domestic product (GDP) of each country. It then makes use of estimates of labour input for comparison purposes. In this paper, small firms are defined as those with fewer than 500 employees and large firms as those with 500 or more employees.

    Release date: 2014-01-08

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2014033
    Description:

    This paper examines and compares labour productivity in Canada and the United States for small and large firms over the period from 2002 to 2008. It quantifies the relative importance of small and large firms in Canada and the United States and measures the relative productivity levels of small versus large firms.

    Small firms are relatively more important in the Canadian economy. Small firms are less productive than large firms in both countries. But the productivity disadvantage of small relative to large firms was higher in Canada.

    The paper provides an estimate of the impact that these differences have on the gap in productivity levels between Canada and the United States. It first estimates the changes that would occur in Canadian aggregate labour productivity if the share of hours worked of large firms in Canada was increased to the U.S. level. It then quantifies the impact of increasing the relative productivity of small to large firms in Canada up to the relative productivity ratio of small firms to large firms that existed in the United States.

    Together, decreasing the relative importance of small firms in the economy and increasing their relative productivity compared to large firms accounts for most of the gap in productivity levels between Canada and the United States in 2002. However, changes in the economy that occurred between 2002 and 2008 reduced the contribution of the small-firm sector to the gap in productivity levels.

    Release date: 2014-01-08

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2013032
    Description:

    This paper examines differences in labour productivity across small, medium- and large-sized enterprises in Canada.

    In 2008, the level of labour productivity, as measured by nominal gross domestic product per hour worked, in large businesses was greater than that for medium-sized and small businesses. This gap between large businesses relative to small and medium-sized businesses narrowed slightly during the post-2000 period. The paper also examines the impact of changes in industrial structure on labour productivity.

    Release date: 2013-08-26

  • Articles and reports: 11F0027M2013084
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    There is abundant evidence that many firms cluster together in space and that there is an association between clustering and productivity. This paper moves beyond identifying the broad effects of clustering and explores how different types of firms benefit from agglomeration. It advances research on agglomeration by showing, first, that not all firms gain to the same degree from co-location and, second, that businesses with different internal capabilities capture different forms of geographical externalities. The empirical analysis focuses on Canadian manufacturing establishments operating over the period from 1989 to 1999.

    Release date: 2013-02-06

  • Articles and reports: 11-626-X2012016
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This article in the Economic Insights series discusses the impact of capitalization of research and development (R&D) expenditure on gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity growth. Capitalizing R&D expenditure increases the scope of investment, and hence, the level of measured capital and GDP. Because R&D expenditure accounts for a small share of GDP, R&D capitalization has little impact on GDP and labour productivity growth.

    Release date: 2012-10-12

  • Articles and reports: 11-626-X2011001
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This Economic Insight looks at commonly-used measures that are employed to compare the relative economic performance of Canada and the United States. It is based on research undertaken at Statistics Canada aimed at improving information about how and why Canadian and U.S. economic progress differs.

    Release date: 2011-12-21

  • Articles and reports: 11F0027M2011075
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    Labour productivity growth in the Canadian business sector slowed substantially after 2000. Most of the slowdown occurred in the manufacturing sector. This paper examines how this slowdown was associated with the restructuring that occurred in manufacturing as a result of the increase in excess capacity, the dramatic increase in the Canada-U.S. exchange rate and a slowdown in export growth.

    Release date: 2011-12-12
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Analysis (54)

Analysis (54) (20 to 30 of 54 results)

  • Articles and reports: 11F0027M2011071
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This paper asks how the performance of self-employed unincorporated businesses affects the size of the gap in labour productivity between Canada and the United States. To do so, the business sector in each country is divided into unincorporated and corporate businesses, and estimates of labour productivity are generated for each sector.

    The productivity performance of the unincorporated sector relative to the corporate sector is much lower in Canada than in the United States. As a result, when the unincorporated sector is removed from the estimates for the business sector in each country and only the corporate sectors for the two countries are compared, the gap in the level of productivity between Canada and the United States is reduced.

    The unincorporated sector consists of both sole proprietorships and partnerships. This paper also investigates the impact of just sole proprietorships on the Canada-United States productivity gap. Sole proprietorships in the two countries more closely resemble one another than do partnerships, as U.S. partnerships are much larger than their Canadian counterparts.

    When sole proprietorships are removed from the business-sector estimates of each country (allowing a comparison of sole proprietorships to the rest of the business sector, which consists of partnerships and the corporate sector), the gap in labour productivity between Canada and the United States also declines but by only about half as much as when both sole proprietorships and partnerships are removed.

    The lower productivity of the unincorporated sector (both sole proprietorships and partnerships) accounted for almost the entire productivity gap between Canada and the United States in 1998. Since then, the productivity of the corporate sector in Canada has fallen relative to that of the corporate sector in the United States and the unincorporated sector no longer accounts for the entire gap.

    Release date: 2011-07-28

  • Articles and reports: 11-010-X201100111401
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    The 2008-2009 recession was less severe for both output and jobs than the two previous recessions. While the disruption of global financial markets did lead to a record drop in exports and severe cuts in business investment, household demand did not recede as much as in previous downturns and led the recovery. Canada is the only G7 nation to have returned to its pre-recession level, led by private domestic demand.

    Release date: 2011-01-13

  • Articles and reports: 11-010-X201001211393
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    Output and employment growth regularly slows, as occurred over the summer of 2010. This paper looks at slowdowns over the last three decades, and finds they occur in response to a wide range of cyclical and irregular factors. However, they rarely if ever turn into recessions.

    Release date: 2010-12-09

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2010028
    Description:

    This study uses new GDP estimates for the unincorporated sector in order to examine labour productivity in the unincorporated sector and to compare it to that in the corporate sector over the period 1987 to 2005. The level of nominal GDP per hour worked is significantly lower for unincorporated enterprises ($23.20 in 2005) than it is for corporations ($43.40 in 2005). In 2005, GDP per hour worked in the unincorporated sector was just 53% of GDP per hour worked in the corporate sector.

    Release date: 2010-10-18

  • Articles and reports: 11-010-X201000511164
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    Financial and commodity markets saw declines late in 2008 that set records for both speed and severity. This paper explores some of the reasons for these rapid declines and their implications for output and employment.

    Release date: 2010-05-13

  • Articles and reports: 11-010-X201000111075
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    Since 1980, labour productivity has risen during recessions in Canada and the US, with the exception of Canada during 2008-2009. A detailed examination of each cyclical downturn since 1980 shows that employers have moved faster to cut labour inputs during recessions, especially in the US.

    Release date: 2010-01-14

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2009023
    Description:

    This paper examines the impact of the revisions to labour productivity estimates and related variables covering the revision cycle of the National Accounts from 2004 to 2007 for Canada and from 2005 to 2007 for the United States.

    Release date: 2009-03-11

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2008022
    Description:

    Many historical comparisons of international productivity use measures of labour productivity (output per worker). Differences in labour productivity can be caused by differences in technical efficiency or differences in capital intensity. Moving to measures of total factor productivity allows international comparisons to ascertain whether differences in labour productivity arise from differences in efficiency or differences in factors utilized in the production process.

    This paper examines differences in output per worker in the manufacturing sectors of Canada and the United States in 1929 and the extent to which it arises from efficiency differences. It makes corrections for differences in capital and materials intensity per worker in order to derive a measure of total factor efficiency of Canada relative to the United States, using detailed industry data. It finds that while output per worker in Canada was only about 75% of the United States productivity level, the total factor productivity measure of Canada was about the same as the United States level - that is, there was very little difference in technical efficiency in the two countries. Canada's lower output per worker was the result of the use of less capital and materials per worker than the United States.

    Release date: 2008-12-23

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2007010
    Description:

    This paper examines the impact of the revisions to labour productivity estimates and related variables covering the revision cycle of the National Accounts from 2003 to 2006 for Canada and from 2004 to 2006 for the United States.

    Release date: 2007-11-27

  • Articles and reports: 15-206-X2007011
    Description:

    This study examines Canadian productivity performance over the period 1961 to 2005. It investigates labour productivity growth and the sources of improvements therein-multifactor productivity growth, capital intensity, and skill upgrading. It also examines the contribution that productivity growth has made to economic growth, and to improvement on living standards. Finally, this study investigates the share of income going to labour, and the real hourly compensation of workers. This publication makes use of the new KLEMS database released on June 25, 2007 (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/13-605-x/13-605-x2007005-eng.htm).

    Release date: 2007-09-13
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