Indexes of business sector labour productivity, unit labour cost and related measures, seasonally adjusted [36100206]

Quarterly series on labour productivity growth and related variables have been published for the first time on December 20th, 2000. These statistical series go back to the first quarter of 1981. The data are published two months after the reference quarter. The quarterly productivity measures are meant to assist in the analysis of the short-run relationship between the fluctuations of output, employment, compensation and hours worked. This measure is fully comparable with the United States quarterly measure. The quarterly estimations of this table are limited to the overall business sector. This aggregate excludes government and non-profit institutions expenditures on primary factors as well as the output of households (including the rental value of owner-occupied dwellings). Corresponding exclusions are also made to labour compensation and hours worked to make output and labour input data consistent with one another. The real output of the business sector is constructed using a Fisher-chained index, after excluding from GDP at market prices the real gross value added of the government sector, of the non-profit institutions and of households (including the rental value of owner-occupied dwellings). This approach is similar to that used for the quarterly productivity of the business sector in the United States. The estimate of the total number of jobs covers four main categories: employee jobs, work owner of an unincorporated business, own account self-employment, and unpaid family jobs. This last category is found mainly in sectors where family firms are important (agriculture and retail trade, in particular). Jobs data are consistent with the System of National Accounts. This is the quarterly average of hours worked for jobs in all categories. The number of hours worked in all jobs is the quarterly average for all jobs times the annual average hours worked in all jobs. According to the retained definition, hours worked means the total number of hours that a person spends working, whether paid or not. In general, this includes regular and overtime hours, breaks, travel time, training in the workplace and time lost in brief work stoppages where workers remain at their posts. On the other hand, time lost due to strikes, lockouts, annual vacation, public holidays, sick leave, maternity leave or leave for personal needs are not included in total hours worked. Labour productivity is a measure of real gross domestic product (GDP) per hour worked. The ratio between total compensation for all jobs, and the number of hours worked. The term hourly compensation" is often used to refer to the total compensation per hour worked." This measures the cost of labour input required to produce one unit of output, and equals labour compensation in current dollars divided by the real output. It is often calculated as the ratio of labour compensation per hour worked and labour productivity. Unit labour cost increases when labour compensation per hour worked increases more rapidly than labour productivity. It is widely used to measure inflation pressures arising from wage growth. Unit non-labour payments are the non-labour payments associated with each unit of output of goods and services, and they are calculated as the non-labour payments divided by the real output. The implicit price deflator is equal to current-dollar output, divided by real output. The output measure is consistent with the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts, prepared by the National Economic Accounts Division. Labor share is equal to the labour compensation divided by current dollar output. The output measure is consistent with the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts, prepared by the National Economic Accounts Division. Current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) in business sector equals current-dollar GDP in the economy less the gross value added of government, nonprofit institutions, households, and the rental of owner-occupied-dwellings. The output measure is consistent with the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts. The total compensation for all jobs consists of all payments in cash or in kind made by domestic producers to workers for services rendered. It includes wages and salaries and employer's social contributions of employees, plus an imputed labour income for self-employed workers. Non-labour payments are the excess of current-dollar output in the business sector over corresponding labour compensation, and include non-labour costs as well as corporate profits and the profit-type income of proprietors. Non-labour costs include interest, depreciation, rent, and indirect business taxes. Unit labour cost in United States dollars is the equivalent of the ratio of Canadian unit labour cost to the exchange rate. This latter corresponds to the United States dollar value expressed in Canadian dollars.