As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reach their end date in 2015, negotiations are ramping up at the United Nations for the establishment of a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs, to be announced in September this year, will replace the MDGs and serve as a universal...

In recent years, the productivity performance of oil and gas extraction in Canada has been dismal. Based on official real GDP and labour input estimates from Statistics Canada, labour productivity in oil and gas extraction fell 8.23 per cent per year between the 2000 cyclical peak and 2007, with...

The forest products sector in Canada has faced hard times since 2000. In terms of productivity growth, the sector as a whole has performed poorly relative to the total-economy average. Labour productivity in the sector grew by 0.38 per cent per year between 2000 and 2007, below the economy-wide...

In recent years, the productivity performance of mining in Canada has been very poor. Based on official real GDP and labour input estimates from Statistics Canada, labour productivity in mining fell by 2.21 per cent per year between the 2000 cyclical peak and 2007, with capital productivity down...

This report aims to accomplish three objectives: provide an assessment of Canada’s productivity performance; provide a synthesis of the productivity studies conducted by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) and the McKinsey Global Institute; and develop a framework for unbundling...

In recent decades, governments in Canada have pursued market-oriented policies at both the macro and micro levels. Economists believe that such policies should foster productivity growth. Since 2000, however, productivity growth in Canada has been dismal, much below that in the United States and...

The Canadian forest products sector has had an above-average productivity performance in the 2000-2012 period, driven in particular by the wood product manufacturing subsector. While the forestry and logging subsector has also benefited from strong productivity gains, the productivity...

There are three main objectives for this report. The first is to ascertain to what degree the unemployment rate is an adequate predictor of labour market conditions in the context of the changing economy. Labour market conditions refer to the state of the labour market and encompass different...