Labour productivity has biggest gain in more than a decade

Canada’s labour productivity had its biggest gain in more than a decade in the fourth quarter, led by improvements in the manufacturing sector, Statistics Canada said.

Labour productivity in the final three months of the year rose 1.4%, exceeding economists’ forecasts, and marking the first increase since the third quarter of 2008. It was the highest quarterly gain since the first quarter of 1998, StatsCan said.

Businesses increased their real output by 1.4% fuelled by exports, consumer spending and residential investment.

Hours worked in the business sector remained unchanged in the fourth quarter, after increasing 0.3% in the third quarter. Employment edged up 0.1%, while hours worked per job fell by 0.1%.

Both goods-producing and service-producing sectors made positive contributions to the upturn in business productivity in the fourth quarter.

The productivity of goods-producing businesses increased 1.7% following three quarters of declines. The growth was widespread, most notable being manufacturing, which advanced 2.1%.