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Affichage des résultats pour les étiquettes 'productivity'.
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Quebec lags in IT spending Slowest growth. Ontario has highest investment per worker ERIC BEAUCHESNE, Canwest News Service Published: 8 hours ago Ontario and Alberta lead the other provinces in investment in information and communications technology per worker, which is increasingly seen as a key to boosting Canada's lagging productivity performance. In contrast, New Brunswick and British Columbia have invested the least in productivity-enhancing computers and telecommunications equipment and software, and Quebec's growth in such spending is the lowest among the provinces. Those are the findings of a report by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released this week in the wake of news that Canada has suffered its longest slide in productivity in nearly 20 years, leaving output per hour worked here further behind that in the U.S., its main trading partner and competitor. The report noted that other studies have found that Canadian investment in information and communications technology, like Canadian productivity growth, lags that of the U.S. The focus of the Ottawa-based think tank's latest study, however, is on the varying levels of such investment within Canada. This year has been the first published breakdown by Statistics Canada of such investment by province. "Many factors affect productivity but ICT investment is a key one," economist Andrew Sharpe, the report's author and head of the research firm said in an interview. For example, the lower level of productivity in most of Atlantic Canada compared with Ontario has been linked to lower levels of ICT investment in Atlantic Canada, he said. Important ICT investment disparities exist, only some of which can be explained by the industrial makeup of the provinces, it said. All provinces have experienced strong growth in ICT investment this decade, led by Newfoundland with increases of nearly 15 per cent per year, almost double that in Quebec which had the weakest growth in such investment at 8.4 per cent. However, the actual level of investment per worker in 2007 varied widely. "These disparities ... may stem from many reasons: Lower levels of wealth, a lack of investment-friendly policies, policies favouring investment in other asset types or industrial structure. "Yet, the significant differences in ICT investment between provinces suggests that policy differences may be important in driving ICT investment," the report concluded. Provincial Breakdown Information and communications technology spending per worker: Ontario $3,870 Alberta $3,722 Canada $3,353 Saskatchewan $3,050 Quebec $2,953 Prince Edward Island $2,935 Newfoundland $2,765 Nova Scotia $2,716 Manitoba $2,688 British Columbia $2,674 New Brunswick $2,445 Centre for the Study of Living Standards
