Business-sector labour productivity by era, 1991 through 2026 Q1, and the official capital-intensity decomposition beside it
Canada's business-sector labour productivity index (output per hour, chained, seasonally adjusted, table 36-10-0206-01, quarterly, 1991 Q2 through 2026 Q1) read across four eras bounded by the record's own turning points, beside Statistics Canada's own official decomposition of labour-productivity growth into a capital-intensity contribution (table 36-10-0208-01, annual, business sector, through 2023) -- the outcome-side half of the capital-behind-each-worker record.
A Resolution record holds one institution's own published figures for a single, specific quantity — a projection, an estimate, or a measured record — across every vintage in which that institution restated it. Each time an issuer publishes a new budget, report, or release, an earlier figure does not disappear from the record; it is preserved exactly as it was first published, dated and cited, alongside the newer one. What is a Resolution record? →
Maintained record. This lineage preserves an official record version by version — observations, estimates, or benchmarks its issuer restated over time. It projects nothing, so no settlement is pending; where a figure can still be revised, the page says so. How the numbers moved between versions is the evidence this lineage exists to keep.
The lineage
| Vintage | Issuer | Published | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 | Statistics Canada | 2026-05-29 | current | Source → · accessed 2026-07-18 |
| Reference years 1961 through 2023, as published at the most recent annual release and captured 2026-07-18 | Statistics Canada | 2025-05-01 | current | Source → · accessed 2026-07-18 |
| Vintage | Period | Value | Role | Assurance | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 | 1991 Q2 (the record's earliest published quarter) | 70.4 index, 2017=100 | institutional estimate | — | — |
| Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 | 2001 Q2 | 87.3 index, 2017=100 | institutional estimate | — | — |
| Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 | 2011 Q2 | 94.0 index, 2017=100 | institutional estimate | — | — |
| Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 | 2019 Q4 (pre-pandemic; the era boundary this Brief compares the current record against) | 102.9 index, 2017=100 | institutional estimate | — | — |
| Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 | 2026 Q1 (the latest published quarter) | 104.1 index, 2017=100 | institutional estimate | — | — |
| Reference years 1961 through 2023, as published at the most recent annual release and captured 2026-07-18 | 2019 (official capital-intensity contribution to labour-productivity growth, business sector) | 100.8 index, 2017=100 | institutional estimate | — | — |
| Reference years 1961 through 2023, as published at the most recent annual release and captured 2026-07-18 | 2023 (the latest published year -- roughly two and a half years behind the current quarter) | 101.9 index, 2017=100 | institutional estimate | — | — |
Movement between vintages
A record, not a ranking: this entry states what was published and how it compares to what followed. It never says who was right, which institution performed better, or grades a forecaster's competence.
| Comparison | Compared vintages | Movement | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business-sector labour productivity, 1991 Q2 to 2001 Q2 | Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 70.4 index, 2017=100) vs. Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 87.3 index, 2017=100) | +16.9 index, 2017=100 | same issuer |
| Business-sector labour productivity, 2001 Q2 to 2011 Q2 | Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 87.3 index, 2017=100) vs. Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 94.0 index, 2017=100) | +6.8 index, 2017=100 | same issuer |
| Business-sector labour productivity, 2011 Q2 to 2019 Q4 | Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 94.0 index, 2017=100) vs. Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 102.9 index, 2017=100) | +8.8 index, 2017=100 | same issuer |
| Business-sector labour productivity, 2019 Q4 to 2026 Q1 (the current era) | Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 102.9 index, 2017=100) vs. Reference quarters 1991 Q1 through 2026 Q1, as published at the Q1-2026 release (2026-05-29) and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 104.1 index, 2017=100) | +1.2 index, 2017=100 | same issuer |
| Official capital-intensity contribution index, business sector, 2019 to 2023 | Reference years 1961 through 2023, as published at the most recent annual release and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 100.8 index, 2017=100) vs. Reference years 1961 through 2023, as published at the most recent annual release and captured 2026-07-18 (institutional estimate 101.9 index, 2017=100) | +1.1 index, 2017=100 | same issuer |
Evidence qualifications (5)
- The four productivity eras are bounded at the record's own visible turning points (a decade after the record begins; two further decade marks; the pre-pandemic peak quarter), not at arbitrary round years -- 2019 Q4 is used, not 2020, because it is the last quarter before pandemic-era distortion enters the seasonally-adjusted series.
- Average annual log growth (the standard convention for comparing multi-period index growth across windows of different lengths) is stated in each comparison's note; the recorded difference and percentage-difference figures carry the total, non-annualized change over each full window.
- The capital-intensity-contribution index (36-10-0208-01) is Statistics Canada's own official decomposition of measured labour-productivity growth into its sources; it is published annually and currently lags the current quarter by roughly two and a half years -- named in a published evidence gap -- the boundary this Resolution's context reading hits. No figure on this page infers what the 2024-2026 contribution would show.
- Business-sector labour productivity (output per hour) and the capital-intensity-contribution index are both index series, not levels; neither is divided by employment on this page (the per-worker division happens on the capital-record entry's stock and flow levels, a different quantity on a different basis).
- No figure on this page attributes the productivity slowdown to any specific cause; it states the measured record, era by era, on the issuer's own basis.
Related on this site
- Big Question: Is Canada rebuilding the capital behind each worker? →
- Brief: The capital behind each worker: the investment record, and the productivity record beside it →
- Receipt: Evidence summary for The capital behind each worker: the investment record, and the productivity record beside it →
- Domain: Labour →
- More Resolution lineages →
- Sources & Method →
A record, not a ranking: this entry states what was published and how it compares to what followed. It never says who was right, which institution performed better, or grades a forecaster's competence.
This is the current public record for this lineage. See Work with Countability for a commissioned projection-resolution question.
Work with Countability