B.C. had the second lowest labour productivity growth among provinces between 1997 and 2010, according to Statistics Canada data released March 12.
The nation’s number cruncher charted labour productivity as a whole and labour productivity as a result of each of three factors: investment in machinery and equipment, investment in human resources and a catch-all category that included all other causes for a labour productivity boost.
B.C.’s labour productivity grew an average of 1.2% per year between 1997 and 2010. Only Alberta had a lower average annual labour productivity growth rate (0.6%). B.C. was tied with Quebec and Ontario for the lowest average annual growth rate in Canada and was slightly below the Canadian average of 1.3% per year during those years.
B.C. employers used investments in equipment and machinery to spur labour productivity more than did employers in other provinces.
B.C.’s labour productivity, as a result of capital equipment purchases, grew an average of 1.3% per year between 1997 and 2010. B.C. employers’ investments in human resources spurred a 0.1% average annual growth rate for labour productivity.
What really held back B.C.’s labour productivity was a combination of other factors that had a -0.2% average annual impact on this metric.
Newfoundland was the star performer among provinces for labour productivity with an average 3.9% annual growth rate between 1997 and 2010.
The majority of that gain came neither from plant improvements (0.7% growth) nor human resources investments (0.7% growth). Rather, it came from a combination of other forces such as technological innovation, economies of scale and organizational change.
