Canada’s GDP Falls in November

(CBC News)

Canada’s economy continued its slide in November as the country’s economic output shrank by 0.7%, according to figures released Friday. Statistics Canada said slumping construction activity and an ailing manufacturing sector led an industrial race to the bottom in the month, the third one in four in which Canadian GDP contracted.

Canada’s national output shrank by 0.1% in October, offsetting a similar gain in September. In August, the Canadian economy slipped 0.3%, an indication that a financial slowdown had already hit Canada prior to the credit meltdown that really began in September.

The country’s goods producers were particularly hard hit in the second last month of the year, said Canada’s statistical agency. “Activity in the manufacturing sector continued to decline in November (-2.1%), reaching a level of activity nearly 4% below that recorded in the first half of 2008,” said Statistics Canada. Employment among these industries had already fallen 32,000, or 1.6%, compared December 2008 with the same month one year earlier. Here, a rising Canadian currency in the first part of 2008 played havoc with the sector’s ability to export products abroad.

Summary statistics and a link to the data files are on the Statistics Canada website.