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December 01, 2022CANADA BUSINESS SECTOR LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY, Q3 2022 
With the lifting of pandemic related restrictions in the second quarter, labour productivity of Canadian businesses increased by 0.6% from Q2 2022 to Q3 2022. Hours worked increased by 0.04% and output was up 0.7%.
After spiking during the initial waves of COVID-19 as many low wage workers lost employment, productivity has been falling as economic conditions normalized and lower productivity industries were able to return to normal operations.
Labour productivity slightly rose to 0.04%, higher than in the quarter before the pandemic (Q4 2019), reflecting a 1.8% increase in output from the business sector and a 1.8% increase in hours worked compared to pre-pandemic level.
Canadian business output rose 4.4% in the first three quarter of 2022 compared with the same period last year while hours worked rose 6.1% and productivity declined 1.6%.
Total compensation per hour increased by 1.2% in Q3 2022, the third consecutive increase after a slight decline at the end of 2021. Employee compensation per hour was 13.4% higher in Q3 2022 than in Q4 2019. With hourly employee compensation outpacing productivity growth, unit labour costs increased by 0.5% in Q3 2022 and were up 13.3% from Q4 2019.
When measured in US dollars, Canada's business sector unit labour cost decreased by 1.7% in Q3 2022. Canada's unit labour costs measured in US dollars were up 14.5% from Q4 2019 to Q3 2022.
Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0206-01 Indexes of business sector labour productivity, unit labour cost and related variables
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