Productivity & Competitiveness
Canada's productivity challenge analyzed through multi-decade trends — labour and multifactor productivity growth, comparisons against G7 peers (specifically the United States), investment-to-wage dynamics, and sectoral breakdowns. Refreshed automatically.
Updated July 5, 20265 charts
Overview
Business-sector real output per hour worked (index, 2017 = 100), 1981–presentData through Q1 2026
OverviewBusiness-sector labour productivity, Canada vs the United States, indexed to 2002Data through Q1 2026
OverviewOriginal analysis
Business-sector output per hour vs its pre-2015 trend — the gap is how far productivity has fallen behindHow to read: The dashed line projects the pre-2015 productivity trend forward. The shaded gap is the cost of the slowdown: how much more each hour of work would produce if that pace had held.Data through Q1 2026
OverviewSources of growth
Canada business sector: labour productivity rises while multifactor (efficiency) productivity stallsData through 2023
Sources of growthCumulative change in labour productivity by major business-sector industry, 1997–2024Data through 2024
Sources of growth