Economic activity remained essentially unchanged in May, edging up 0.1% in both March and April. Goods production declined (-0.5% in May) for a third straight month, more than offsetting the gain in services (+0.2%). Except for a slight advance in the manufacturing sector, the main goods producing sectors (mining, oil and gas extraction and construction) declined in May. For services, the largest gains were registered in wholesale trade, the financial sector and public administration. Retail trade was down.
Production declines in energy sector
The energy sector declined 1.5% in May after falling 1.0% in April. Declines were registered in both the extraction (-1.3%) and exploration (-7.8%) of oil and gas. Temporary closures of East Coast oil fields, combined with reduced activity in the oil sands, caused a drop in the output of crude oil and non-conventional oil. Despite these recent reversals, the output of oil and natural gas remained about 3% higher than in 2005, and natural gas production was rising. Both electricity production (-0.3%) and natural gas distribution (-2.0%) also declined.
Note to readersThe monthly gross domestic product (GDP) by industry data are chained volume estimates with 1997 as their reference year. This means that the estimates for each industry and aggregate are obtained from a chained volume index multiplied by the industry's value added in 1997. For the period 1997 to 2002, the monthly estimates are benchmarked to annually chained Fisher volume indexes of GDP obtained from the constant-price input-output tables. For the period starting with January 2003, the estimates are derived by chaining a fixed-weight Laspeyres volume index to the prior period. The fixed weights are the industry output and input prices of 2002. This makes the monthly GDP by industry estimates more comparable with the expenditure-based GDP data, chained quarterly. Revisions With this release of monthly GDP by industry, revisions have been made back to January 2005. For more information about monthly GDP by industry, see the new National Economic Accounts module on our website (http://www.statcan.ca/nea). |
The output of the mining sector excluding oil and natural gas fell 2.4%, with almost all types of ores posting declines. A strong increase in metal prices on international markets was one of the factors contributing to a reduction in foreign demand
Construction sector posts third consecutive monthly decline
The construction sector fell for a third consecutive month in May (-1.2%), pulled down by a 3.7% drop in residential construction. Declines were recorded in the construction of all types of new homes, but an upswing in renovation activity tempered the decrease. Non-residential construction fell 0.5%, with decreases in the construction of both industrial and public buildings. The only advances were in engineering and repair work (+0.2%).
Manufacturing activity advances
The manufacturing sector rose 0.1% in May. This was the first gain after four months of decline. Of the 21 major groups, 10 advanced, accounting for 36% of total manufacturing output. The largest gains were registered in the output of chemicals, plastic and rubber products, clothing and machinery. The largest declines were registered by manufacturers of metal products, motor vehicles and wood products.
The manufacturing sector's advance was not enough to offset the declines in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector (-2.3%) and in utilities (-0.5%), which caused industrial production to fall 0.5%. In the United States, industrial production rose 0.1%, with the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors all posting gains.
Wholesale trade continues to expand
Wholesale trade continued to expand in May (+0.9%), increasing for a sixth consecutive month. Contributing the most to this increase were sales of automotive products, machinery and electronic equipment, as well as building materials. Retail trade declined 0.6% after two strong monthly increases in a row. Automotive product retailers and supermarkets contributed the most to the decline of activity in May. Furniture, home furnishing and electronics retailers and general merchandise stores, including department stores, saw the greatest increases in activity.
Banking and stock market activity both increase
Activities in the financial sector increased 0.3% in May. Banking activity rose 0.6%, owing to the growth of bank revenues and an increase in the volume of stock market transactions. However, a drop in mutual fund sales, which had grown appreciably in April, led to a 1.1% decrease in stockbroker's activity. Real estate brokerage (+2.6%) activities made up for the ground lost in April, owing to a rebound in home resales.
Other sectors
For a second consecutive month, activities associated with the 2006 Census caused a surge in the federal government sector excluding defence (+1.3%). Tourism-related industries, such as accommodation, food services and air transportation, benefited from an increased number of foreign visitors staying in Canada for more than one day.
Available on CANSIM: tables 379-0017 to 379-0022.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 1301.
The May 2006 issue of Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Vol. 20, no. 5 (15-001-XIE, free) is now available from the Our Products and Services page of our website.
Data on gross domestic product by industry for June will be released on August 31.
For general information or to order data, contact the dissemination officer (toll-free 1-800-887-IMAD; imad@statcan.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Bernard Lefrançois (613-951-3622), Industry Accounts Division.
| Monthly gross domestic product by industry at basic prices in chained dollars (1997) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| December 2005r | January 2006r | February 2006r | March 2006r | April 2006r | May 2006p | May 2006 | May 2005 to May 2006 | ||
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| Seasonally adjusted | |||||||||
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| month-to-month % change | millions of dollars¹ | % change | |||||||
| All Industries | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -0.0 | 1,096,774 | 2.6 | ||
| Goods-producing industries | 0.7 | -0.5 | 0.5 | -0.4 | -0.3 | -0.5 | 342,416 | 0.7 | ||
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting | -0.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | -0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 25,557 | 2.4 | ||
| Mining and oil and gas extraction | 0.7 | -2.5 | -0.1 | 0.7 | -0.5 | -2.3 | 39,455 | -0.8 | ||
| Utilities | 0.8 | -4.9 | 4.7 | -0.7 | -1.1 | -0.5 | 26,756 | -2.8 | ||
| Construction | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | -0.7 | -0.3 | -1.2 | 66,134 | 4.3 | ||
| Manufacturing | 0.7 | -0.1 | -0.2 | -0.5 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 183,900 | 0.2 | ||
| Services-producing industries | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 755,441 | 3.5 | ||
| Wholesale trade | 1.4 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 72,169 | 8.0 | ||
| Retail trade | 0.3 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.4 | -0.6 | 65,321 | 6.0 | ||
| Transportation and warehousing | 0.7 | -0.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | -0.1 | 53,608 | 3.8 | ||
| Information and cultural industries | -0.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -0.2 | 0.2 | 44,801 | 1.2 | ||
| Finance, insurance and real estate | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 220,031 | 3.5 | ||
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 46,460 | 1.1 | ||
| Administrative and waste management services | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 24,654 | 3.9 | ||
| Education services | -0.1 | 0.2 | -0.0 | -0.4 | 0.3 | -0.0 | 47,324 | 1.3 | ||
| Health care and social assistance | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 63,373 | 3.0 | ||
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 0.8 | -2.0 | -0.4 | 1.9 | 2.2 | -1.5 | 9,786 | 4.6 | ||
| Accommodation and food services | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.7 | -0.9 | 0.6 | 23,792 | 3.2 | ||
| Other services (except public administration) | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | -0.0 | 0.1 | 26,303 | 1.6 | ||
| Public administration | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 60,006 | 3.0 | ||
| Other aggregations |
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| Industrial production | 0.7 | -1.1 | 0.3 | -0.3 | -0.3 | -0.5 | 251,384 | -0.4 | ||
| Non-durable manufacturing industries | 0.1 | 0.3 | -1.2 | -0.1 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 72,781 | -1.1 | ||
| Durable manufacturing industries | 1.2 | -0.3 | 0.4 | -0.8 | -0.3 | -0.4 | 110,878 | 1.0 | ||
| Business sector industries | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -0.1 | 934,719 | 2.6 | ||
| Non-business sector industries | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 162,586 | 2.5 | ||
| Information and communication technologies industries | -0.5 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | -0.2 | 63,480 | 4.1 | ||
| Energy sector | 0.5 | -3.0 | 1.8 | 0.6 | -1.0 | -1.5 | 64,185 | -0.3 | ||
| revised | ||||||||||
| preliminary | ||||||||||
| Millions of chained dollars (1997), seasonally adjusted at annual rates. | ||||||||||