It’s been a busy week for Statistics Canada will several key reports being released.
Here’s a breakdown of what has come out from Statistics Canada in the past couple of days.
Gross domestic product by industry, April 2025
Real gross domestic product (GDP) edged down 0.1% in April, following a 0.2% increase in March.
The goods-producing industries were down 0.6% in April, with the manufacturing sector accounting for nearly all the decline.
The services-producing industries edged up 0.1% in April. Public administration, finance and insurance, and the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors contributed the most to the increase, while the wholesale trade sector was the largest detractor to growth. Overall, 10 of 20 industrial sectors expanded in April, said Statistics Canada.
Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies, April 2025
The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as “payroll employment” in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—was little changed in April (-6,200), following two consecutive declines in February and March. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 30,400 (+0.2%) in April.
In April, monthly payroll employment declines were recorded in 9 of 20 sectors, including manufacturing (-7,300; -0.5%), accommodation and food services (-5,800; -0.4%), retail trade (-5,000; -0.3%), and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-4,700; -0.6%). These declines were partially offset by gains in health care and social assistance (+10,800; +0.4%), public administration (+6,200; +0.5%) and educational services (+5,200; +0.4%). The remaining eight sectors were little changed.
Meanwhile, job vacancies decreased by 16,800 (-3.2%) to 501,300 in April, following nine consecutive months of little change. On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down by 91,400 (-15.4%), reported Statistics Canada.
National tourism indicators, first quarter 2025
Tourism spending was virtually unchanged in the first quarter of 2025 after increasing 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Domestic tourism spending increased 0.8% in the first quarter of 2025 as Canadians pulled back from international travel to the United States. Gains in tourism spending by Canadians at home were offset by lower tourism exports (-2.6%), which refer to non-resident spending in Canada.
Tourism gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.5% in the first quarter of 2025, compared to growth of 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024. By comparison, economy-wide GDP by industry was up 0.4% in the first quarter of 2025.
Growth in tourism GDP in the first quarter was driven by accommodation services (+2.0%), followed by food and beverage services (+1.0%). These gains were partially offset by declines in other tourism industries (-1.2%) and transportation (-0.3%) during the quarter.
On a nominal basis, tourism’s share of GDP was 1.74% in the first quarter, down from 1.79% recorded in the previous quarter.
The number of jobs attributable to tourism edged up 0.1% in the first quarter of 2025, following a 0.8% increase in the fourth quarter of 2024. The gains in food and beverages services (+0.6%) and accommodation services (+0.4%) were largely offset by declines in recreation and entertainment (-1.0%) and travel services (-1.6%). The total number of tourism jobs in Canada reached 707,400 in the first quarter, up slightly from 706,500 in the fourth quarter. Tourism’s share of total jobs was 3.30% in the first quarter, noted Statistics Canada.
Monthly estimates of business openings and closures, March 2025
In March, the business opening rate was 4.8% for a third straight month. The closure rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 4.8%, following two consecutive monthly declines of 0.2 percentage points. In March, the business opening rate was 0.1 percentage point above its 2015-to-2019 historical average while the closure rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than its historical average.
The number of active businesses showed no growth over the first quarter of 2025. In March, the number of active businesses dropped by 0.1% (-722 businesses) as the number of business closures was higher than that of openings. In the same month, payroll employment dropped by 0.3%, real gross domestic product edged up 0.1% and business insolvency filings were relatively unchanged from February (448) to March (444).
Business openings held relatively steady in most sectors in March. The construction (+409 business openings compared with February) sector recorded the largest variation in business openings, followed by the accommodation and food services (-194) and other services (except public administration) (-89) sectors, shared Statistics Canada.
In March, business closures changed little in most sectors. The finance and insurance, and management of companies and enterprises (+104 business closures compared with February) and health care and social assistance (+90) sectors posted the largest increases in business closures. These increases were partially offset by the decline in closures in the retail trade (-110) sector.
The number of active businesses dropped or was relatively unchanged in all sectors in March. The decline in the overall number of active businesses was mainly driven by the transportation and warehousing (37.7% contribution to the decline in active businesses), professional, scientific and technical services (24.3% contribution) and accommodation and food services (8.0% contribution) sectors.
Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies, April 2025
The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as “payroll employment” in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—was little changed in April (-6,200), following two consecutive declines in February and March. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 30,400 (+0.2%) in April.
In April, monthly payroll employment declines were recorded in 9 of 20 sectors, including manufacturing (-7,300; -0.5%), accommodation and food services (-5,800; -0.4%), retail trade (-5,000; -0.3%), and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-4,700; -0.6%). These declines were partially offset by gains in health care and social assistance (+10,800; +0.4%), public administration (+6,200; +0.5%) and educational services (+5,200; +0.4%). The remaining eight sectors were little changed.
Meanwhile, job vacancies decreased by 16,800 (-3.2%) to 501,300 in April, following nine consecutive months of little change. On a year-over-year basis, job vacancies were down by 91,400 (-15.4%), reported Statistics Canada.
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