Posthaste: Canada's 'productivity emergency' called the most widespread in history outside the pandemic

financialpost.com:

When it comes to Canada’s productivity emergency, “the entire country is feeling the pain.”

That’s according to the economists at Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec who say output per capita fell in every province last year, making it the most broad-based decline in standard-of-living in Canadian history outside of the pandemic.

“Only at the peak of the pandemic did we see all 10 provinces report a decrease,” they said.

What’s more, early data from 2024 suggests the trend is continuing.

Earlier this year, Carolyn Rogers, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, warned that the country was facing a “productivity emergency.”

Canada in 2022 was producing just 71 per cent of the value generated in the United States economy per hour and the capital spending gap had widened, she said.

The country’s population surpassed 41 million for the first time this year, and though these gains are keeping the economy afloat on the surface, output per person has fallen in six of the past seven quarters, said Desjardins economist Marc Desormeaux.

Per capita output measures our standard of living.

“So even though Canada’s economy is still growing and churning out jobs, many people and businesses feel worse off than they did a year and a half to two years ago,” he said.

It could even be worse depending on where you live.

Outside of Quebec and Ontario, gross domestic product per person is not only lower than before the pandemic, it is lower than the peak in 2014-15.

“That means many people outside our two biggest provinces feel worse off today than they did 10 years ago,” he said.

Desjardins says part of the problem is that output and employment have shifted away from highly productive industries like mining and oil and gas