{"id":2802,"date":"2018-02-26T04:00:27","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/?p=2802"},"modified":"2022-02-23T11:17:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T16:17:56","slug":"productivite-et-prosperite-au-quebec-bilan-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/productivite-et-prosperite-au-quebec-bilan-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity and Prosperity in Quebec \u2013 2017 Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Centre for Productivity and Prosperity \u2013 Walter J. Somers Foundation (CPP) today released its 2017 edition of Productivity and Prosperity in Quebec \u2013 Overview<\/em><\/a>. In keeping with a tradition started in 2009, the CPP report updates a number of indicators that draw a portrait of Quebec\u2019s economic situation.<\/p>\n

For CPP Director Robert Gagn\u00e9, who co-authored the report, the province\u2019s economic health remains precarious. \u201cI don\u2019t want to paint too bleak a picture, but the situation really hasn\u2019t improved in recent years. With a standard of living barely higher than $47,000\u00a0per capita in 2016, Quebec still trails the pack as compared with the other Canadian provinces and 20 of the main Western countries.\u201d Only the Maritime provinces, Spain and South Korea have lower standards of living.<\/p>\n

According to the authors, this finding is not in the least surprising. \u201cBetween 1981 and 2016, labour productivity in Quebec rose by only 0.9% per year on average,\u201d explains Gagn\u00e9. \u201cThis is indisputably the weakest growth out of the thirty economies analyzed. The problem, and it is a serious one, stems from the fact that improvement in the standard of living comes almost entirely from productivity gains. So it is only natural that Quebec\u2019s economy is progressing more slowly than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Structural origins<\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors of the report have been analyzing the province\u2019s economy since 1981, and have seen the origins of Quebec\u2019s lagging economic performance change over the years. In the 80s and 90s, the standard of living gap with the other provinces and countries studied was essentially due to the major recessions during those periods. Since the early 2000s, though, the gap has continued to widen, whether or not the economy has been battling a recession.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, everything suggests that the province is faced with a deep-rooted problem, i.e. that Quebec\u2019s economic structure prevents it from keeping pace with the other countries and most Canadian provinces,\u201d says Gagn\u00e9. \u201cWithout any action being taken to address this problem, the standard of living gap between Quebec and a vast majority of Western countries is bound to keep spreading over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The heart of the problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the authors, the crux of the problem lies in the decline of Quebec\u2019s manufacturing sector. Manufacturing in Quebec has historically been concentrated in low-tech industries, traditionally considered \u201csoft\u201d sectors, such as the textile, garment, paper and furniture trades. Since these industries are particularly vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations because of their strong exposure to competition from emerging countries, the province\u2019s manufacturing output declined drastically as the Canadian dollar rose in the early 2000s.\u00a0\u201cThe repercussions were disastrous for Quebec\u2019s economy,\u201d maintains the CPP Director. \u201cBecause this loss in competitiveness was not offset by productivity gains, the province\u2019s economic growth foundered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Cause for concern<\/strong><\/p>\n

The relatively slow growth in Quebeckers\u2019 standard of living has had serious consequences, as they have seen their purchasing power shrink steadily. In fact, their disposable income is now lower than that of residents of the other nine Canadian provinces. In 2016, Quebeckers had an average of $4,370 less than Ontarians to spend and save.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really hurts,\u201d concludes Gagn\u00e9, \u201cis that Quebec\u2019s cost of living advantage has faded over the years. Since the province has been unable to compensate for the loss of this advantage with adequate economic growth, Quebeckers\u2019 purchasing power has declined significantly in comparison with residents of the other provinces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

To read more : Deslauriers, Jonathan, Robert Gagn\u00e9 and Jonathan Par\u00e9, Productivity and Prosperity in Quebec \u2013 2017 Overview<\/a>, Centre for Productivity and Prosperity (CPP) \u2013 Walter J. Somers Foundation, HEC Montr\u00e9al, February 2018<\/p>\n<\/div>

Read the publication<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productivity-and-prosperity-in-quebec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2802"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3685,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802\/revisions\/3685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}