The Business and Community Newsletter – December 2022
Release date: December 15, 2022
Happy Holidays from our Statistics Canada family to yours!
In the new year, with your support, we will continue to provide you with timely data and insights as we push forward to build an even better Canada.
Check out these festive fun facts:
Description - Seasonal Stats
The 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 1,364 farms that grew Christmas trees for sale, spread over 50,803 acres.
Ontario (418) had the most farms, followed by British Columbia (276) and Quebec (257). Nova Scotia's 213 farms were more than the combined total of the Prairie and Maritime provinces (199).
Canada exported over 2.4 million fresh Christmas trees in 2021, most of which (97.2%) ended up in the United States. Final destinations for most of them were Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia.
Source: StatCan Plus / Countin' around the Christmas tree, let the statistics spirit ring
Warm wishes for a happy and healthy 2023!
Feature article
2021 Census of Population
2021 Census products provide statistical information about the population, age, sex at birth and gender, type of dwelling, families, households and marital status, Canadian military experience, income, language, Indigenous peoples, housing, immigration, place of birth and citizenship, ethnocultural and religious diversity, mobility and migration, education, labour, and commuting as measured in the Census Program.
Highlights from the November 30th release:
Labour
- In the face of population aging and the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of health care workers increases by over 200,000 in five years to 1.5 million in 2021.
- The construction industry, with over 1.3 million workers, continues to be an important employer for men working as labourers and in skilled trades.
- Growth in professional, scientific and technical services employment outpaces that of all other industries, with 1.5 million employed in 2021.
- Four million Canadians are working in sales and service occupations.
Commuting
Instruction in the minority official language
Education
Highlights from the October 26th release
2026 Census of Population Content Consultation
Statistics Canada is currently preparing for the public consultation regarding the 2026 Census content, scheduled to start on January 9, 2023. Invitations to participate will be emailed to individuals and organizations who are known census data users and for whom Statistics Canada has contact information. Statistics Canada is seeking feedback on census content from representatives in federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments; First Nations, Métis and Inuit leaders, communities and organizations; academia; non-governmental organizations; and private businesses. Statistics Canada will also reach out to other census data users through its website, social media accounts and regional offices. All participants in this public consultation will be asked to complete the same electronic questionnaire.
This public consultation will gather valuable information on the relevance of the census, the extent of users' data needs, populations of interest, suitability of alternative data sources, multivariate analysis, comparability across Canada, continuity over time and the required frequency of outputs.
For more information, please visit the 2026 Census of Population Content Consultation website; or to have your name and email address added to the list of consultation participants, please contact the 2026 Census Content Determination Team at statcan.cpop2026consultation-consultationrpop2026.statcan@statcan.gc.ca.
Labour Force Survey November 2022
Employment was little changed in November (+10,000), following an increase of 108,000 (+0.6%) in October. The stability in overall total employment was the result of offsetting movements across multiple industries. Similarly, employment growth in Quebec (+28,000; +0.6%) was offset by declines in five other provinces, including Alberta and British Columbia.
Consumer Price Index, October 2022
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 6.9% year over year in October, matching the increase in September. Faster price growth for gas and mortgage interest costs were moderated by slowing price growth for food.
Excluding food and energy, prices rose 5.3% year over year in October, following a gain of 5.4% in September.
In October, higher prices at the gas pump put upward pressure on the all-items CPI. Additionally, Canadians renewed or initiated mortgages at higher interest rates, which led to acceleration in the Mortgage Interest Cost Index. Offsetting the upward pressure was slower price growth on a year-over-year basis for natural gas and groceries, particularly prices for fruit, vegetables, and meat.
This Personal Inflation Calculator allows users to create a personal inflation time-series. Users enter dollar amounts in the common expense categories to produce a personalized inflation rate, which will more closely approximate an individual's inflation experience than the average measure of inflation - the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
StatsCAN Plus
Visit StatsCAN Plus for the most recent data stories:
StatsCAN app
We invite you to download the free StatsCAN app, which is available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, and to share this exciting news within your networks.
Also worth reading
Business
Monthly estimates of business openings and closures, August 2022
In August 2022, the number of active businesses (-0.3%; -2,529) dropped for the second consecutive month. This decline is consistent with the variation in employment as measured in the Labour Force Survey, which posted slight contractions in both July and August 2022. The decline in the number of active businesses was mainly driven by the increase in the business closure rate from 4.6% in July to 4.9% in August. The business opening rate (4.4%) slightly declined, driven by the 0.1 percentage point decrease of the reopening rate whereas the entry held steady at 1.8%.
Gross domestic product by industry, September 2022
Real gross domestic product (GDP) edged up 0.1% in September. Growth was led by goods-producing industries (+0.3%), while services-producing industries were essentially unchanged.
Advance information indicates that real GDP was essentially unchanged in October. Increases in the public, transportation and warehousing, construction and wholesale trade sectors were offset by decreases in the manufacturing and mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sectors. Due to its preliminary nature, this estimate will be updated on December 23 with the release of the official GDP data for October.
Recent Economic and Social Developments
Population aging amplifies labour shortage worries
Job vacancies climbed to a record high in mid-2022 despite the strong recovery in payroll jobs. Older Canadians led the increase in the working-age population, slowing the growth of the labour force. One fifth of Canadians are set to retire in the next decade.
Pressures on affordability mount as borrowing costs rise
Inflation had an impact on most Canadians with three-quarters reporting that rising prices have affected their ability to meet day-to-day expenses. One-quarter of Canadians reported borrowing money or taking on debt to pay their bills, particularly lower-income, younger Canadians and households with children.
Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, fourth quarter 2022
Businesses expect to face obstacles related to rising inflation and costs
Rising inflation remained the top obstacle businesses expected over the next three months (see Note to readers), with three in five businesses (58.4%) expecting it to be an obstacle, led by businesses in retail trade (74.6%), accommodation and food services (71.3%), and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (62.9%).
Businesses continue to have workforce-related obstacles
Businesses continue to face obstacles related to the workforce. Amid elevated labour demand, recent labour market conditions have been characterized by low unemployment rates and high labour force participation among those in the core working ages of 25 to 54. Among people aged 25 to 54, the unemployment rate was 4.2% while the labour force participation rate was 88.2% in October.
Did you know…
Join the Data Science Network ecosystem
If you haven't yet heard about the Data Science Network (DSN), allow us to fill you in on one of the federal public service's greatest platforms. The DSN is a community of data scientists and others that collaborate and share data science projects and experiences across the Government of Canada and beyond. This community includes members from all sectors, including federal and provincial government employees, academia, as well as private sector employees.
The DSN sends a monthly newsletter informing its subscribers about events, data science career opportunities, and features recently released articles from researchers and their findings on data science topics such as homomorphic encryption, privacy preserving technologies, machine learning, image segmentation, and more.
The DSN community welcomes members from all experience and skill levels—it's not just for data scientists! If you're curious to learn more about this ever-expanding field, visit the Data Science Network to subscribe to the newsletter, browse our articles, or register for upcoming events. Everyone is welcome!
Podcast
Eh Sayers Season 3 Episode 3 - Green Houses, Not Gases
Canada is facing both a climate crisis and a housing crisis, and they are interconnected.
Choices we make about our homes impact the environment: their location and how much we need to use a car to get around, the heat source that they use, the materials used in their construction.
At the same time, the climate impacts our homes: when severe weather strikes and causes damage to our homes, we have no choice but to rebuild, and even if we escape unscathed, we still have to decide how much to change our lifestyles to adapt to a changing climate.
Andrew DeFazio, CMHC Climate Change Advisor, joins us to explore how we can climate-proof our housing strategy and home-proof our climate strategy.
Infographics
Overview of Government Spending by Function, 2021/2022
This infographic features government spending data in Canada for the 2021/2022 fiscal year. It gives a breakdown of expenses by the socio-economic purpose for which the funds are used.
The rise in prices for wheat-based food products
This infographic details the food supply chain by focusing on the price movements for wheat-based food products in March 2022, and the costs to move food products from producers to consumers.
Overview of Canadian citizenship in 2021
Based on the 2021 Census data, the following infographic provides information on Canadian citizenship.
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