A review of economic statistics in Canada this week
Canadian Press
Monday, February 26, 2007
OTTAWA (CP) - A review of economic statistics this week:
Canadian wholesales jump.
Wholesalers ended 2006 on a high note, with the automotive sector providing much of the impetus for the largest monthly gain in over two years. Wholesale sales jumped 2.7 per cent in December to $42.8 billion, the largest increase since March 2004. The month's strong showing capped another robust year for wholesalers, as 2006 sales increased 6.5 per cent to $501 billion.
Foreign securities rise.
Fuelled by investment in foreign bonds, Canadian investment in foreign securities reached a record $78.3 billion in 2006. Canadians closed out the year by investing $5.6 billion in foreign securities in December, with 70 per cent in debt instruments and the remaining 30 per cent in equities.
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Composite leading index rebounds.
The growth of the composite leading index returned to 0.5 per cent in January, after a brief slowdown to 0.2 per cent in December, with most of the acceleration originating in housing. Financial market conditions remained buoyant, while most other components posted slow, steady growth.
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Inflation rate down.
The annual inflation rate slipped to 1.2 per cent in January, from 1.6 per cent in December. The core inflation rate, which ignores factors such as food, energy and changes to indirect taxes - such as the GST cut last summer - was at 2.1 per cent. January marked the fifth consecutive month in which overall inflation was below two per cent.
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Sameday travel plummets.
Sameday travel to Canada from the United States fell in 2006 to its lowest level since record-keeping started in 1972. The number of sameday car trips from the United States dropped 12.5 per cent to 13.7 million last year, half the 1999 high of 27.3 million.
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Retail sales increase.
Retailers posted their highest sales growth in nine years in 2006, moving $391.4 billion worth of goods and services, up 6.4 per cent from 2005. Total retail sales jumped 2.3 per cent in December to an estimated $33.5 billion, the fastest monthly growth rate since December 1997, and more than offsetting losses in September and October as well as a lacklustre 0.3 per cent increase in November.
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Corporate profits up.
Canadian corporations earned record-high operating profits of $231.7 billion in 2006, led by solid growth in the wholesale, retail and construction industries. Overall, operating profits increased 7.3 per cent in 2006, down from double-digit growth in the previous two years.
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Public-sector employment rises.
Public-sector employment increased for the seventh straight year in 2006, an upward trend that began after years of decline throughout the 1990s. On average, there were nearly 3,039,000 employees in the public sector in 2006, just below the peak of 3,063,000 set in 1992. In the fourth quarter there were about 3,075,000 employees in the public sector, up 1.5 per cent, or 44,000, from the last three months of 2005.
Statscan study.
A new study says women have been no more likely to quit their jobs than men since the early 1990s, putting the lie to a common excuse for gender wage gaps. The study found, for example, that 5.5 per cent of men quit their jobs in 1984, compared with seven per cent of women but by 1994 the rate for women was 5.6 per cent, almost identical to the rate of 5.5 per cent for men; in 2002, the rates were 7.7 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively.
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