Source: The Canadian Press

The labour productivity of Canadian businesses edged up 0.1% in the third quarter, after falling 0.6% in the second quarter.

Statistics Canada reports the slight increase in business productivity reflected modest growth in the real gross domestic product combined with no change in hours worked.

Real GDP growth in Canadian businesses slowed for the second consecutive quarter, edging up 0.1% in Q3.

StatsCan says most of the weakness was concentrated in the service industries, as their output declined slightly for the second straight quarter.

The output of goods-producing industries continued to increase, but its growth rate was lower than in the three previous quarters.

The volume of hours worked in the business sector was unchanged in the third quarter, after rising 1.2% in each of the previous two quarters.

Employment was up 0.5%, while hours worked per job fell by 0.6%.

In the United States, business productivity rose 0.6% in the third quarter.