In keeping with a tradition started in 2009, the Centre for Productivity and Prosperity publishes an annual Overview examining the key issue of prosperity in Quebec. Looking at the central themes of the concepts of productivity and the standard of living, year after year this series of publications has pursued the same objective: to examine productivity and standard of living trends in Quebec and suggest ideas for improving Quebeckers’ standard of living.
Now in its sixth edition, this year’s Overview is divided into two sections. As in previous years, the first section is a thorough analysis of labour productivity and standard of living trends in Quebec. In addition to comparing the province’s performance with the 20 main OECD countries and the other Canadian provinces, the analysis identifies the factors underlying the growth in the standard of living in countries where there has been a significant increase: labour productivity, work intensity and employment rate. As a result, we see that, in the long term, labour productivity growth is the only lever that enables a society to sustainably raise its standard of living.
The second section builds on the first, analyzing trends in Quebec households’ disposable income and explaining how GDP growth is beneficial for households. This section also addresses an important question concerning Quebec’s relative performance: is there a cost of living gap that could compensate for Quebec’s lower standard of living? Drawing on a Statistics Canada measurement that makes it possible to properly calculate the cost of living in the 10 Canadian provinces, we compare the situation of Quebec households with that in other provinces while taking into account this possible cost of living gap. The analysis shows that, even if the cost of living is in fact lower in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada, the benefit of lower prices rapidly disappears.
In closing, we should mention that in addition to Productivity and Prosperity in Quebec – Overview, the Centre for Productivity and Prosperity conducts various research projects on productivity and the standard of living in Quebec and throughout Canada, their trends and determinants. All our studies are published, some in English, and available free of charge. Interested readers can consult our website at www.hec.ca/cpp for information on all our publications.
To read more : Deslauriers, Jonathan, Robert Gagné and Jonathan Paré, Productivity and Prosperity in Quebec – 2014 Overview, Centre for Productivity and Prosperity, HEC Montréal, December 2014.
Deslauriers, Jonathan, Robert Gagné and Jonathan Paré, Productivité et prospérité au Québec – Bilan 2014 – Annexe méthodologique, Centre for Productivity and Prosperity, HEC Montréal, December 2014. (Available in French only)
