1Canada gets a B grade

Citation

(2009), "1Canada gets a B grade", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 58 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2009.07958hab.006

1Canada gets a B grade

Article Type: News From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 58, Issue 8

Canada is still a B student when it comes to economics, says the Conference Board of Canada.

The research organization recently released a report card on the economic performance of the world’s 17 richest countries, and said Canada managed to maintain its overall B grade and eleventh place ranking in 2008 despite the global economic crisis.

Canada clung to its “relative position” even though its economy was hampered by increasing unemployment, declining per capita income, slowing growth in economic output and dwindling labour productivity.

The global recession exacted a much deeper toll on other countries, such as Ireland, which tumbled from first to last place amid turmoil in its real estate market.

Still, Canada’s eleventh place ranking suggests that it “remains near the back of the class” among wealthy countries, said chief economist Glen Hodgson. “We came out eleventh, which is, ironically, exactly where we were a year ago”, he said in an interview. “And kind of where Canada has been for a long time”.

This country’s overall B score is based on eight economic indicators. While Canada achieved an A for how it handled inflation and a B for GDP growth, the rest of its report card is littered with Cs for other key gauges, such as income per capita, labour productivity growth, unemployment rate, employment growth, inward foreign direct investment and outward foreign direct investment.