StatCan: Hours up, productivity down
By Adam Freill
LabourProductivity figures could not keep pace as more workers went back to work with the easing of pandemic restrictions.
After posting a record increase in productivity of 7.8 per cent in 2020, those figures fell 5.8 per cent in 2021, according to the latest data release by Statistics Canada.
In 2021, public health restrictions were increasingly eased in most provinces and territories, which contributed to a rebound in GDP of businesses and hours worked. Nationally, hours worked in the business sector posted a historic increase of 11.4 per cent in 2021, a figure that output could not match.
Given that hours worked had fallen to a very low level in 2020, hours worked rebounded much more strongly in 2021 than business output, resulting in exceptional declines in productivity in all provinces, except Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
