Canadian economy losing ground on international competition
by CanadianManufacturing.com Staff
CBOC suggests Canada will rank ninth out of 17 in global economy report
OTTAWA‑ Canada gained fiscal ground on its international peers during the recession, but has started to slip towards the middle of the pack, a Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) report says.
The Ottawa-based research and policy organization suggests Canada will rank ninth among 17 peer countries in 2011.
In both 2008 and 2009, Canada placed sixth.
“Canada seems to be slipping back into old patterns as it comes out of the recession,” said Glen Hodgson, senior vice-president and chief economist. “Our ranking improved during the recession years‑even when our performance did not‑because we suffered much less economic damage than other countries.”
The country’s relative ranking improved significantly during the recession, but has worsened recently on the poor performance of indicators such as income‑per‑capita,GDP growth, employment and the unemployment rate.
While overall economic performance has improved, CBOC is suggesting other countries are advancing more rapidly, forcing Canada’s ranking lower.
However, employment expectations remain positive for 2011. Canadian firms have boosted output by increasing the size of their workforces instead of boosting labour productivity, the report says.
