March 2026
Spotlight on data and research
Measuring Canada’s economic performance relative to the United States
Canada’s economic performance has not kept pace with the United States, given the speed at which U.S. businesses invest in new technologies and production processes, effectively raising living standards. In light of the strong linkages between the Canadian and U.S. economies, a comparison of key economic indicators provides insights into changes in relative living standards between the two countries.
In this article three common aggregate measures are used to evaluate economic performance between 1997 and 2025: labour productivity, real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and real gross national income (GNI) per capita.
Regardless of the measure selected, Canada’s economic performance has lagged the U.S. Canada’s dependence on small firms, weaker investment in information and communications technology and lower investment in intangible assets have all contributed to relative declines.
The NEETEST youth: Not in employment, education or training, excluding short transitions
The NEET measure (not in employment, education or training) is a popular approach to identify youth who, at a point in time, may be at risk for economic and social difficulties. This article develops and applies a new complementary indicator that focuses on a longer time period and acknowledges unpaid caregiving as a productive activity. Youth are considered not in employment, education or training, excluding short transitions (NEETEST), if they were NEET for a full year (excluding unpaid caregiving).
This article finds that in every year from 2017 to 2022, about 7% to 8% of youth between the ages of 20- to 29-years-old were NEETEST. In comparison, the NEET rate for these youth was about 13% to 14% during this period, except during the pandemic when it peaked at 19% in 2020 (likely because the NEET indicator is measured at a point in time).
Compared with NEET youth, NEETEST youth were relatively more concentrated among women, older youth, individuals with no postsecondary education, youth from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and youth outside census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations.
Insights
Potential occupational exposure to artificial intelligence across selected cultural industries in Canada
Artificial intelligence (AI) could transform jobs in cultural industries by either replacing human labour in content creation, or by complementing and augmenting human creative processes. This article examined the potential impact of AI on employment in selected cultural industries—video game publishers and video game design and development services, publishing industries (except video game publishers), sound recording industries and musical groups and artists, and motion picture and video industries. It found that more than 50% of jobs in these industries could be highly exposed to and less complementary with AI technologies, which suggests a relatively higher potential for AI substitution. This compares with less than 45% of jobs in other sectors of the economy.
However, more than 30% of jobs in the selected cultural industries could potentially be highly exposed to and highly complementary with AI technologies, which suggests a potential for AI augmentation rather than substitution. By contrast, about 25% of jobs may fall into this category in other sectors of the economy.
Trends in the wealth gap between immigrant and Canadian-born families from 2016 to 2023
The wealth that immigrants accumulate after coming to Canada is a long-term indicator of their socioeconomic mobility and well-being. This article examines how recency of immigration to Canada contributes to differences in wealth between immigrants and Canadian-born people, and whether recent immigrants were doing better in 2023 than in 2016.
The median net worth of recent immigrant families (those in Canada less than 10 years) was $132,300 in 2023, up from $77,500 in 2016 in constant 2023 dollars. Despite increasing their wealth over this period, recent immigrant families did not gain ground relative to Canadian-born families. In 2023, the net worth of recent immigrant families was less than half as much as that of Canadian-born families at a comparable stage in the life cycle ($293,900).
By contrast, established immigrant families had greater wealth than Canadian-born families and increased their advantage from 2016 to 2023. The median net worth of established immigrant families was $751,500 in 2023, which was $143,000 more wealth than among Canadian-born families at a comparable stage in the life cycle. In 2016, established immigrant families had a net worth of $593,400 in 2023 dollars, which was $52,000 more than Canadian-born families.
Related publications
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
- Date modified: