Hours worked continue to grow at a pace close to that of the first two quarters of 2024
Hours worked in the business sector rose for the third consecutive quarter, increasing by 0.5% in the third quarter. This growth rate is close to that of the previous two quarters.
The growth in hours worked in the third quarter was due to a 0.7% increase in average hours worked, while the number of jobs fell 0.2%. This contrasts with the variations in average hours worked and number of jobs observed in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, hours worked also increased in both service-producing (+0.6%) and goods-producing (+0.3%) businesses, led by increases in 12 of the 16 industry sectors.
In July and August 2024, wildfires affected certain economic regions of British Columbia and Alberta, as well as Labrador City in Newfoundland and Labrador. This contributed to a negligible 0.004% reduction in the growth of hours worked in the business sector in the third quarter.
Wildfires in certain economic regions of the country: impact on hours worked, July and August 2024
Data on lost work hours and overtime due to the wildfires, which affected certain economic regions of the country in July and August 2024, are taken from questions added to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) questionnaire for the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The additional questions were included in the August LFS (for the reference period of July) and the September LFS (for the reference period of August).
Data from these questions allowed Statistics Canada to adjust the estimates of hours worked used in the measure of labour productivity.
In July and August, 1.1 million hours of work were lost in the business sector, while 852,000 hours of overtime were worked. As a result, for the third quarter, the net effect was a loss of 286,000 hours of work.
Productivity down in most industry sectors
Goods-producing businesses saw their productivity fall by 0.7% in the third quarter, after rising 0.3% in the previous quarter. As for service-producing businesses, their productivity declined for a third consecutive quarter, falling 0.3% in the third quarter.
Overall, 11 of the 16 main business sectors were down in the third quarter. The utilities (+3.4%), retail trade (+0.9%), administrative services (+0.4%) and finance and insurance (+0.2%) sectors posted increases, while productivity in real estate services was essentially unchanged.
In the third quarter, manufacturing, professional services as well as wholesale trade were the main contributors to the overall decline in productivity.
Unit labour costs accelerate compared with the previous quarter
Since productivity declined 0.4% in the third quarter, the 1.0% rise in hourly compensation in the quarter resulted in a 1.4% increase in unit labour costs of businesses. This was a faster rate of growth than in the second quarter (+0.8%).
Unit labour costs represent the costs of wages and benefits per unit of output.
📲 Stay informed with the latest health insights
Enjoyed this article? Follow the ‘Health’ topic to receive personalized updates on related content. Stay connected with the most recent articles, reports, and analyses—right in the StatsCAN app!