Canada’s fourth quarter labour productivity dipped: StatsCan
Canada’s already struggling labour productivity took another hit in the fourth quarter of last year, dipping by 0.1 per cent.
Canada’s already struggling labour productivity took another hit in the fourth quarter of last year, dipping by 0.1 per cent, as businesses cut back on work hours slower than the economy shrank, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.
“Overall, manufacturing and construction were the main contributors to the decrease in business sector productivity in the fourth quarter,” wrote the government agency on Wednesday. “Meanwhile, services-producing businesses, led by information and cultural industries, contributed the most to labour productivity growth in the quarter.”
The decline follows a quarter-over-quarter increase in the third quarter of 2025.
The decrease was most observed in goods-producing businesses (down 0.9 per cent) but was partially offset by growth in services-producing businesses (up 0.4 per cent).
However, the fourth quarter also saw the second consecutive decline in hours worked in the business sector. The Q3 decrease was the first decline in hours worked since the second quarter of 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As labour productivity edged down in the fourth quarter, the 0.5 per cent rise in hourly compensation resulted in a 0.7 per cent growth in unit labour costs to businesses. This was the fastest pace of quarterly growth since the first quarter of 2024,” it said.
“In 2025, growth in real gross domestic product of businesses (+1.9 per cent) maintained a similar pace to that of the previous year (+1.8 per cent). Meanwhile, growth in hours worked further decelerated from 1.1 per cent in 2024 to 0.8 per cent in 2025, contributing to the annual increase in labour productivity.”
The agency noted that with increased productivity last year, the 2.3 per cent increase in hourly compensation resulted in actual growth of only 1.2 per cent in unit labour costs to businesses.
“This was the lowest annual growth rate for unit labour costs since 2017,” it said.
Carney and the Liberal Government or what passes for it are liars and frauds but apparently a large percentage of Canadians care not.
While some of what is driving the crisis in Canada (and there are many) are not necessarily within the direct control of Governments the majority are and on those fronts Carney's promises have been empty and meaningless (that is when one can keep track of them and when he is not flip-flopping from day to day or hour to hour) as been useless Lieberal Governance.
Sadly though too many Canadians would rather focus on their dislike or downright hatred of the current President of the USA rather than look around and wonder why so very many things that are within the control of Carney and his gang of trained seals are going down the toilet big time.
Canada...
You are coming up to almost a year since you elected this fake, fraud and liar as your PM but you care not that he talks, talks, and talks and delivers little to nothing.
That is when he is not selling you out to his own benefit, that of the CCP or his buddies at Brookfield or Blackrock.
Continue to only focus on something over which you have zero input or control and when you look down that ever deepening hole and can't see the bottom remember that was/is what passes for Liberal (and CINO) leadership and governance and has little to nothing to do with the guy in the country south of you and everything to do with who is in Ottawa currently.
11 years of Liberal destruction. $1 trillion taxpayer $$$$ have disappeared into the black hole of political correctness, woke bureaucracies, 450,000 federal bureaucrats costing taxpayers $100 billion a year plus offices and expense accounts, socialism, Laurentian elites, Liberal bagmen and now we have zero growth, collapsing employment, no future for Canada's young. Getting it yet Elbows Up losers?