Glossary

$YYYY millions indicates that the money values are in year YYYY dollars (base year), that is, adjusted by inflation. This is used to calculate the real physical change of the values, factoring out growth due to increases in prices.

Percentage change in agricultural products prices. Agricultural products are made up of animal products and vegetable products from Statistics Canada's Raw Materials Price Index. (Converted to US$)

Percentage change in average annual employee wages. Compensation of employees comprises wages and salaries and employers social contributions. Wages and salaries are estimated on a "gross" basis, that is, prior to deductions for employees' contributions to income tax, employment insurance, pension funds etc. Employers social contributions is comprised of employer contributions to employee welfare, pensions, workers compensation and employment insurance.

Investment in building construction represents the investment on any permanent structure with walls and a roof that provides protection and shelter from and for a social/physical environment for people/materials. Such structures also include the machinery and equipment component which forms a part of the structure with functions such as plumbing, electrical wiring, air conditioning or elevators. For example, building construction represents expenditures on aircraft hangars, factories, hospitals, hotels, office buildings, railway stations, schools and shopping centres. Investment in building construction is composed of three major components, often reffered to as ICI: Industrial; Commercial ; and Institutional and government building construction.

Business investment expenditures are expenditures (investments) by businesses that take place in three forms: Residential construction Non-residential construction Machinery and equipment

Percentage change in non-residential business investment (see business investment expenditures)

Exchange rate refers to the price of purchasing foreign currency measured in Canadian dollars. For example, the Canada-U.S. exchange rate specifies how many U.S. dollars are required to purchase one Canadian dollar.

Commercial building construction investment involves the construction of commercial structures (including new, additions, and alterations) by service-producing industries with the exception of the education, health, social services and government services industries. Examples of this category include office buildings, hotels and motels, shopping centres and sports facilities.

Percentage change in consumer expenditure (see consumer expenditures)

Consumer expenditures is the value of all goods and services purchased by households.

The consumer price index measures the change in the average price of a group of goods and services that are normally and frequently purchased by households over time. The percentage change in this index is called CPI inflation.

Inflation is the percentage change in prices from one period to the next (see consumer price index).

Employment refers to the number of people that have jobs in the economy, including both full- and part-time jobs.

Percentage change in employment in the construction industry

Engineering construction investment includes entire engineering projects such as highways, dams, water and sewer lines, power and communication lines, roads, railway tracks, pipelines and bridges. It also encompasses the direct or indirect cost of the movement of people, machinery, materials, gases, and/or electrical impulses.

Excess supply is the difference between the number of people in the labour force and those who are employed. It is identical to unemployment with the exception that it can take on negative as well as positive values. When excess supply is negative it implies that employment exceeds the labour force. When it is positive the labour force exceeds employment. A negative excess supply for a construction trade suggests there will be insufficient workers available to undertake the amount of work related to that trade.

The excess supply rate is the percentage of the labour force that is in “excess supply” or unemployed at a particular point in time – calculated as excess supply divided by labour force (see excess supply).

Fiscal policy refers to policies undertaken by governments (all levels) in the area of their spending and taxation. Examples of fiscal policy include increases in government expenditures on health and a reduction in the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Policies that aim to increase economic growth are called expansionary policies and those that lead to slower growth are called contractionary policies.

GDP deflator is a measure of the change in the average price of goods and services produced in the economy. It is used to derive the real GDP by dividing nominal GDP by this deflator.

Percentage change in government investment expenditure (see government investment expenditures)

Government consumption expenditures refers to the value of goods and services purchased by governments (all levels). These do not include transfer payments (tax return and transferences to other levels of government) or investment expenditures (definition follows).

Percentage change in government spending on goods and services, excluding capital expenditure (see government consumption expenditures)

Government investment expenditures are expenditures by all levels of government on construction and the purchase of machinery and equipment.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of goods and services produced in an economy. When GDP is adjusted for changes in the prices of good and services it is called real GDP. Real GDP is a measure of the physical change in an economy’s production such as the growth in the number of cars produced. Nominal GDP, in contrast, includes both the physical change and the average change in value associated with inflation.

Heavy industry engineering consists primarily of construction investment related to mining, oil and gas, and utilities.

Price of natural gas located at Henry Hub trading terminal. ($US/MCF)

Construction of highways (including elevated), streets, roads, airport runways, public sidewalks, or bridges

A household is composed of all people that occupy a dwelling unit.

Household formation refers to the change in the number of households (persons living under one roof or occupying a separate housing unit) from one year to the next. It is the means by which population growth is transformed into demand for new housing (see household).

Spending by households on renovation and maintenance. Renovations include alterations and improvements to existing dwellings.

Housing starts refers to the number of dwellings for which construction has started in any given year.

Recruiting required by the construction industry from other industries, other trades or occupations outside construction and/or other provinces or countries to meet labour requirements. Requirements are measured by the change employment (expansion demand) plus the loss of workers due to retirements and mortality (replacement demand) minus new entrants.

Industrial building construction refers to the construction of buildings undertaken by the agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, manufacturing, construction, utilities, transportation and warehousing industries, and includes investment on factory structures and similar types of formations.

Institutional and government building construction refers to investment in the construction of building structures undertaken by the education, health, social services and government services industries.

The labour force is the number of people that are working or looking for work. If a person is not working and is not actively looking for work then that person is not included in the labour force.

Level change in the labour force in the construction industry (see labour force)

Percentage change in the labour force for all industries, total economy

Labour market tightness ranking system; ranking values range from 1 to 5, where 1 represents a loose labour market and 5 represents a tight labour market

Machinery and equipment investment refers to the expenditure for depreciable machinery and equipment used to produce goods and services by businesses and governments.

Percentage change in metals and mineral prices. Metals and mineral are made up of ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals and non-metallic mining from Statistics Canada's Raw Materials Price Index. (Converted to $US)

Monetary policy refers to policies undertaken by a country’s central bank, such as the Bank of Canada, to influence the economy through financial markets. The central bank implements these policies to cause changes in interest rates in order to control inflation.

The estimated number of persons in the local labour force who become deceased during the year based on age-specific mortality rates. Deaths refer to those occurring from all causes.

The number of residents aged 30 and younger estimated to enter the labour force for the first time. People in this age group are typically in a transition from school to permanent positions in the labour force, including apprentices that are first-time entrants to the labour force. New apprentices that previously worked in construction or non-construction are not included in this concept. Each trade gets its share of total new entrants based on historical patterns across all trades and occupations tracked by the CSC.

Investment in new housing, including single detached, doubles, row housing and low-rise/high-rise apartment buildings

Non-residential construction investment refers to expenditures for non-residential depreciable structures used to produce goods and services by business and governments. This investment is composed of  non-residential building and engineering construction.

Maintenance and repairs investment in non-residential industries; refers to the entire process of maintaining buildings and equipment

Other primary and utilities maintenance expenditure (see heavy industrial engineering)

Maintenance expenditures for all other industries, excluding heavy industrial (see heavy industrial engineering)

The percentage of labour force that is normally or on average in excess supply or unemployed because of the nature of the work and the industries in which it is primarily employed. The rate takes into account seasonal, frictional and structural unemployment. Normal unemployment rates differ across occupations, reflecting differences in the seasonal and other aspects of a job.

Other engineering includes pipelines, water and sewer lines, transit systems, tunnels, and other civil engineering. It excludes heavy industrial and road and bridges engineering.

The characteristics of investment behaviour and the seasonal nature of construction activity contribute to peak employment requirements within a year.

The difference between the number of people in the labour force and those who are employed at peak within a year

The peak excess supply (unemployed) as a percentage of the peak labour force

The characteristics of investment behaviour and the seasonal nature of construction activity contribute to peak periods for which a larger workforce is required.

Percentage change in the population

Productivity is the amount of GDP produced per employed person (worker). It is calculated by dividing the total output of an economy (GDP) by its employment levels (number of employed workers).

Productivity growth is the percentage change in productivity (see productivity). This growth can take negative values.

Purchasing power parity refers to the exchange rate between countries. The purchasing power exchange rate between two countries is the rate at which a person can purchase the same basket (group) of goods and services in each country for the same amount of money. It is normally considered to be the value of the exchange rate to which market forces will cause the actual exchange rate to move towards over time.

Real GDP growth is the percentage change in the economy’s real gross domestic product (see Gross Domestic Product)

Residential construction investment refers to expenditures for the construction or remodeling and renovation of single-family and multi-family residential buildings, including single detached, doubles, row housing, and low-rise/high-rise apartment buildings.

Maintenance expenditures on residential structures. Maintenance is recurring work that is intended to promote the upkeep of a property in properly living condition.

The estimated number of persons permanently leaving the labour force. Persons that leave a trade as they grow older and move to another trade or occupation are not included in this concept as they are still in the labour force.

Seasonally adjusted means that data is adjusted by removing changes due to seasonal effects. This adjustment takes place so data can be comparable from one period to the next. For example, gaps in construction employment between the months of July and January can be misinterpreted due to the very different volume of activity of these two months.

The three-month treasury bill rate is the rate of interest paid on a treasury bill issued by the federal government that has a maturity of three months.

Unemployment refers to the number of people in the labour force that are not working. It is calculated as the difference between the labour force and employment.

The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed (see "Unemployment").

A crude stream produced in Texas and southern Oklahoma which serves as a reference or "marker" for pricing a number of other crude streams and which is traded in the domestic spot market at Cushing, Oklahoma. ($US/BBL)