Canada’s workforce is aging. A critical first step in assessing how workforce aging affects business performance is constructing firm level measures of workforce age. This paper addresses an important gap in the literature by, for the first time, documenting workforce aging at the firm level using detailed measures of the age distribution of workers across the universe of Canadian firms.
The use of renewable energy sources by Canadian households reflects national priorities and international commitments to sustainability. Using data from the 2021 Households and the Environment Survey, this study examines the socioeconomic and dwelling-related characteristics of households that use renewable energy with respect to how adoption is distributed across the population and which groups are likely to adopt alternative energy, offering context for understanding Canada’s progress toward these goals.
This study provides an update to a 2021 report that produced novel estimates of the business characteristics, gross domestic product and business dynamics of child care businesses in Canada through 2016. Administrative data on all tax-filing business in Canada are used to identify incorporated businesses, typically representing child care centres, and unincorporated businesses, typically representing home-based child care businesses without employees.
Using data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database, this article examines recent trends in the admission, retention and labour market outcomes of foreign postdoctoral fellows in Canada. Foreign postdoctoral fellows are identified as individuals whose first Canadian work permit was issued under the Labour Market Impact Assessment exemption code designated for postdoctoral appointments within the International Mobility Program (IMP). Their outcomes are compared with those of other IMP work permit holders, Temporary Foreign Worker Program participants and immigrants who entered Canada directly as permanent residents.
This article compares labour productivity from 1997 to 2024 between industries dependent on U.S. demand and other industries in the business sector. Labour productivity in this study is measured by real value added per hour worked.
This article provides a broad assessment of occupational match and associated earnings outcomes among immigrants admitted to Canada from 2010 to 2020. Using linked data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database and the 2021 Census, the study examines the extent to which recent immigrants work in occupations aligned with their intended occupation at admission, identifies the characteristics associated with occupational match, and analyzes the earnings implications of matching versus not matching into intended occupations.
This article examines trades certification outcomes from 2008 to 2023 among apprentices who were childhood immigrants, compared with their Canadian-born counterparts, across eight registration cohorts (2008 to 2015).
This spotlight article outlines practical methods for assessing the economic impacts of public programs delivered by federal agencies and Crown corporations. It summarizes key steps in conducting quantitative impact analysis, including data linkage, cohort construction and implementation of quasi causal estimators.
Given the longstanding and deeply integrated economic relationship between Canada and the United States, knowledge of how Canada’s economic performance compares to that of its southern neighbor can provide valuable insights into potential changes in relative living standards between the two countries. This paper measures economic performance across three common aggregate measures: labour productivity, real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and real gross national income (GNI) per capita.
This study examines two questions regarding the trends in wealth gaps among Canadian-born and immigrant families: Has the wealth gap between recent immigrant, established immigrant and Canadian-born families changed since 2016? And, which components of wealth (home equity, pensions, investments) have contributed to the wealth gap?
The NEET measure (not in employment, education or training) is a popular approach to identifying youth who, at a point in time, may be at risk for economic and social difficulties. This article develops and applies a complementary indicator that focuses on a longer time period and also acknowledges unpaid caregiving as a productive activity. Youth are considered not in employment, education or training, excluding short transitions (NEETEST), if they were NEET (excluding unpaid caregiving) for a full year.
A central concern surrounding recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is their potential to replace human labour, especially in the domain of content creation, such as the production of music, videos, images and text in the cultural industries. However, there is a lack of information regarding how AI may impact workers in these industries. This article attempts to fill this information gap by examining potential occupational exposure to and complementarity with AI in selected cultural industries in Canada.
This paper looks at trends in employment and layoffs following the introduction of U.S. tariffs. It focusses on Canadian industries that are dependent on exports to the U.S. and compares these trends with industries that are less reliant on U.S. demand for goods.
Persons with disabilities face disadvantages in employment, and these have implications for their well-being. The gap in employment between persons with and without disabilities is a widely used measure of inequality. This study examines gaps in educational attainment and employment between immigrants with and without disabilities, using data from the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability.
Canada’s business sector has a lower level of labour productivity compared with that of the United States. Moreover, there has been a substantial divergence in labour productivity in the business sectors of Canada and the United States since 2000. As a result, Canada’s labour productivity gap with the United States widened in that period. This paper examines the role of firm size in the widening labour productivity gap between the two countries since 2000.
With rising barriers to trade with the United States it is important to understand how Canadian firms adjust to tariffs. To provide insight, this paper examines the effects of US tariffs imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum products between June 1, 2018 and May 20, 2019.
Citizenship acquisition marks a pivotal milestone in immigrant integration, influencing social cohesion and political participation. While aggregate naturalization rates provide macro-level insights, disparities by source country reveal diverse integration pathways. Through comparative analysis of Australia and Canada—nations with comparable immigration scales and broadly similar immigration approaches, yet notable differences in naturalization frameworks—this study investigates how source-country characteristics affect naturalization patterns.
How far adult children live from their aging parents can shape family support, caregiving, and job choices. But most data focus on people living in the same home—like with their parents—and rarely track them across long periods, missing key moments when they move out or return to help, or receive grandparent help from, an aging parent. A new article, entitled Geographic proximity between adult children and their parents in Canada: The role of childhood parental income, addresses these issues. This summary provides many of the main takeaways from the article and a more focused look at differences across provinces.
Canada’s net international investment position provides a statistical framework for evaluating the degree of financial integration between Canada and other countries. The value of Canada’s net international investment position depends on the relative weight of two offsetting factors: (1) the claims that Canadian investors have on financial assets located outside of Canada, via their cumulative holdings of direct investment, portfolio investment, official international reserves, and other financial investments, and (2) Canada’s liabilities to foreign investors via their cumulative investments in financial assets in Canada.
Innovation is a central engine of economic growth, technological advancement and urban resilience. In an increasingly interconnected and competitive global economy, cities and regions must sustain innovative activity to remain productive and attractive. Among the most debated sources of urban innovation is diversity. Notably, cultural diversity and industrial diversity have been studied as distinct drivers of innovation. This paper examines the impact of cultural and industrial diversity on innovation across 152 Canadian urban areas from 2001 to 2021.
