Economic activity in the public sector (education, health care and public administration) as well as manufacturing and professional services grew as the Canadian economy continues to recover from COVID-19.
The Canadian economy grew by 1.2 per cent in August, following a 3.1 per cent increase in July, but overall economic activity remains about five per cent below February’s pre-pandemic level.
Increased hiring of educational as well as health care staff contributed to the rise in public sector employment, while various categories of workers in professional services including computer systems design and related services also rose. Economic activity in construction and to a lesser degree manufacturing also rose.
Economic activity in the accommodation and food services rose 7.3 per cent in August, with the arts, entertainment and recreation sector having grown 13.7 per cent.
But if these sectors of the economy have shown signs of recovery, other sectors including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction continue to struggle, having decreased 1.7 per cent in August. Looking at sub-categories, low global oil prices continue to hurt the oil and gas industry. The industry as a whole dropped 3.9 per cent in August, while economic activity in oil sands extraction dropped 7.5 per cent.
These national figures, however, do not capture the regional picture.
The public heard last month that the tourism sector — a key component of the local economy — continues to struggle on Vancouver Island. According to a presentation by economist Susan Mowbray during last month’s Vancouver Island Economic Alliance summit, ferry travel this year is down 51 per cent, and between April and July, airport traffic was down 82-97 per cent, hotel occupancy was down 51-81 per cent and room rates were down 34-54 per cent.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
