Canada’s net foreign asset position increased by $197.1 billion to reach $1,006.0 billion at the end of the fourth quarter. Global stock markets increased in the fourth quarter, with the US stock market (+8.5 per cent), the European stock market (+4.9 per cent) and the Japanese stock market (+8.7 per cent) all up. Meanwhile, the Canadian stock market grew 2.4 per … Read more
Canadian industries operated at 81.2 per cent of their production capacity in the fourth quarter, down from 81.5 per cent in the previous quarter. This was the fifth decrease in six quarters, primarily due to declines in the mining and quarrying and manufacturing sectors. Details online. The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds increased 1.6 per … Read more
Canadian entities issued a net $138.5 billion of debt securities in 2019, up from $107.0 billion in 2018. The financial sector contributed the most, with net issuances of $87.2 billion over the year, the highest amount since 2015. Borrowing conditions improved, with Canadian long-term interest rates down by 37 basis points in 2019. Details online. February data indicating cross-border travel by automobile through land … Read more
The total value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities increased 4.0 per cent to $9.2 billion in January. Increases were reported in six provinces, led by British Columbia (+52.1 per cent to $2.2 billion). Details online. In 2017, over half of all cases of cervical cancer (53.6 per cent) were diagnosed at stage I, and more than 8 in 10 breast cancer cases (81.8 … Read more
Employment was little changed in February (+30,000 or +0.2 per cent), and the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.6 per cent. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment rose by 245,000 (+1.3 per cent), the result of gains in full-time work (+252,000 or +1.6 per cent). Over the same period, hours worked were up 2.3 per cent, partly due to the fact that hours … Read more
In 2019, 15 per cent of teenagers aged 15 to 19 reported having vaped in the 30 days preceding the survey, and over one-third (36 per cent) reported having tried it at some point in their lives. Among young adults aged 20 to 24, the proportion of those who had vaped in the 30 days preceding the survey was also 15 per cent, and close to half (48 per … Read more
Labour productivity of Canadian businesses edged down 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, after posting a 0.2 per cent gain in the third quarter. This was the first decrease in a year. Real gross domestic product of businesses (-0.1 per cent) declined slightly in the fourth quarter, after 13 consecutive quarters of growth. The decline in output was mostly the result … Read more
The number of research and development personnel in Canada was virtually unchanged in 2017, at 235,350 full-time equivalents, a marginal decline of 100 FTEs compared with the previous year. Across all performing sectors, technicians (+2.6 per cent) were the only occupational category that saw gains in 2017. The remaining R&D occupations saw declines: researchers (-0.1 per cent), support staff (-2.1 per cent) and on-site research … Read more
Lumber production decreased 14.2 per cent from November to 4 046.3 thousand cubic metres in December. Production was 6.4 per cent lower than in December 2018. Sawmills shipped 4 096.9 thousand cubic metres of lumber in December, down 3.3 per cent from November and down 3.0 per cent from December 2018. Details online. Canadian manufacturers produced 1.2 billion cigarettes in January, up 0.2 per cent from December 2019. Cigarette production was 35.4 per cent lower compared with January 2019. … Read more
Growth in real gross domestic product slowed to 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, owing to a decrease in business investment and weak international trade. These declines were offset by increased household spending. Final domestic demand edged up 0.2 per cent, after rising 0.8 per cent in the third quarter. Details online. Real gross domestic product increased 0.3 per … Read more
