Latest economic trends at a glance
| Economic growth: | After dismal growth in the past two years, Canada’s economy is now expected to grow by about 2.4 per cent in 2017 and by 2.0 per cent in 2018. |
| Jobs: | Job growth is also expected to pick up this year, with employment rising by up to 1.4 per cent – twice last year’s rate of growth – and then moderate to about a 0.8 per cent increase in 2018. The jobless rate, now down to 6.5 per cent, isn’t expected to decline much further. |
| Wages: | Collective agreements signed in the first three months of this year provide average base wage increases of 1.6 per cent, with a 1.5 per cent average for public sector workers and a 2.0 per cent average for private sector workers. |
| Inflation: | The cost of living – consumer price inflation – is expected to pick up to 2.1 per cent both this year and next. |
| Interest rates: | Major commercial banks expect the Bank of Canada to start increasing its key lending rate in fall 2018 and for longer term and mortgage rates to resume their gradual rise later this year, increasing by a half to full percentage point over the next two years. |