Output per hour worked jumped 0.6 per cent over the final three months of 2024, Statistics Canada reported. It was the largest gain in a year and enough to generate the first annual increase since 2020. (The Logic) 

Talking point: Labour productivity, an important indicator of a country’s capacity to generate wealth, is stuck in a miserable slump, as the fourth quarter marked only the third significant increase since the middle of 2020. But in the latest period, businesses managed to double the growth rate of their output while slowing the increase in hours worked to half the pace of the third quarter. The annual increase of 0.6 per cent isn’t great, and won’t cause the Bank of Canada to stop the alarm it sounded over Canada’s productivity crisis almost a year ago. But it’s another shard of evidence that Canada’s economy is heading into an economic war with U.S. President Donald Trump with a bit of momentum.