April 2026
Spotlight on data and research
Artificial intelligence adoption and productivity in Canadian firms
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the way businesses operate — but how much does it truly boost productivity? Using a novel Canadian firm-level database linking the Survey of Digital Technology and Internet Use and firm-level administrative records, this article shows that AI adopters are 16.8% more productive than non-adopters.
However, much of the advantage reflects firm selection and broader innovation capacity and digital transformation rather than AI alone. Firms with strong complementary capabilities—including R&D, cloud computing, data analytics, advanced robotics, and information and communications technology (ICT) training for employees—are significantly more likely to adopt AI.
Insights
Recent developments in the Canadian economy: Spring 2026
This article provides an integrated summary of changes in output, employment, international trade, consumer prices and household finances during the second half of 2025 and early 2026.
Business investment scaled back as businesses navigated uncertainty and trade tensions over the past year. In the fourth quarter of 2025, combined business outlays on non-residential structures and machinery and equipment (M&E) were down 1.6% from levels reported prior to the trade disruptions in late 2024, largely reflecting lower spending on M&E. Businesses anticipate higher capital spending in 2026. Outlays on non-residential tangible assets by private organizations, measured in nominal dollars, are expected to be 2.8% above spending levels in 2025. Over two-thirds of the planned increase in private capital spending reflects higher anticipated outlays in Alberta after spending decreased in 2025.
Why have immigrant entry earnings fluctuated widely in recent years?
In recent years, the entry earnings of newly admitted immigrants to Canada have fluctuated substantially year-to-year. Understanding the sources of these fluctuations is important, because entry earnings are a key indicator of immigrants’ initial labour-market integration. They are commonly used to assess changes in immigration selection. This article examines the extent to which these fluctuations can be attributed to changes in immigrant selection and labour-market conditions.
Using data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database, the analysis focuses on immigrants who were admitted from 2015 to 2022 and measures their entry earnings as annual wages or salaries in the first full calendar year after admission. Entry earnings are then compared across successive admission cohorts. The entry earnings of those admitted in 2022 decreased 13% relative to those admitted in the previous year, and 87% of this decrease was attributable to a large decline in the share of new immigrant workers with pre-admission Canadian earnings. In contrast, changes in labour-market conditions account for 92% of the decrease (9%) in entry earnings for those admitted in 2019 and approximately half of the increase (21%) observed for those admitted in 2020.
Socioeconomic correlates of loneliness among immigrants with disabilities
Loneliness is a public health issue that has been linked to premature mortality. New analyses in this article find that certain socioeconomic circumstances increased the probability of severe loneliness among immigrants with disabilities.
Using data from the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, comparisons of immigrants with disabilities with their Canadian-born counterparts showed that the association between socioeconomic circumstances and loneliness differed between these two groups. Among persons living in food-insecure households, a higher percentage of immigrants with disabilities experienced a severe level of loneliness (34%) than Canadian‑born persons with disabilities (27%). Even among those living in food‑secure households, more immigrants with disabilities experienced severe loneliness (24%) compared with Canadian‑born persons with disabilities (18%).
Research article
Insights into the accessibility, affordability, inclusivity, flexibility and quality of child care centres in Canada, 2024
The Canadian child care sector has been undergoing a period of transformation following the 2021 Federal Budget which committed over $27.2 billion towards making high-quality child care more affordable, inclusive, flexible, and accessible. This report gives a snapshot of child care centres providing care to children aged 0 to 5 years in April 2024. The findings contribute insights into centre characteristics, child capacity, funding, fees, and structural measures associated with child care quality.
According to the Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services, in April 2024 there were 11,092 child care centres across Canada serving children aged 0-5 years, enrolling about 627,500 children. Results suggest that the proportion of centres offering flexible or non-standard care options was limited, that 15% of centres had expanded their maximum capacity in the previous year to improve accessibility, that nearly three-quarters of centres had accommodations in place to improve inclusivity for children with long-term conditions or disabilities, and that the affordability of child care as indicated by child care fees varied considerably across child age category and jurisdiction.
Related publications
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
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