OTTAWA - A review of economic statistics this week:
New housing prices up, supply down
Canadian contractors' selling prices rose 6.1 per cent between March 2007 and March 2008, a slightly slower pace than the 6.2 per cent year-over-year increase posted in February. Prices rose 0.2 per cent between February and March.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says home construction in Canada will slow this year by--,000 units, with seven provinces registering declines, and sales of existing homes expected to fall 8.5 per cent. But the CMHC says sales will remain fairly strong by historical standards.
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Immigrant employment increased
Employment among immigrants increased 2.1 per cent - or 52,000 jobs - in 2007, while employment among Canadian-born workers grew at a rate of 1.3 per cent. But the employment-rate gap between immigrants and Canadian-born workers widened because the immigrant population grew much faster than its employment. The employment-rate gap between immigrants and the Canadian born widened to 5.9 percentage points in 2007 from 5.4 in 2006. Unemployment among core working-age immigrants edged up to 6.6 per cent from 6.5 - higher than the 4.6 per cent rate among Canadian-born workers.
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Productivity increased
Buoyed by an appreciating Canadian dollar, and high demand for natural resources, productivity increased 0.7 per cent in Canada last year. Productivity surged 9.2 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador, the fastest growth rate in the country. Alberta's labour productivity fell 1.9 per cent.
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Motor vehicle sales strong
An exceptionally strong January powered a 9.1 per cent gain in new motor vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2008 compared with the fourth quarter of 2007 - the strongest growth rate since mid-1998. The quarterly increase was driven almost entirely by strong sales of new passenger cars, which were up 17.8 per cent, the largest increase since'76. Consumers bought--8,796 new vehicles in March, 0.5 per cent fewer than in February.
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Investors play safe
Canadian investors slashed the amounted they put into mutual funds in April compared with a year ago as net contributions totalled $560.8 million, down from $2.51 billion a year ago. The lion's share went into safe, low-yielding money market funds.
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Manufacturing decreases
Manufacturers gave back some of their recent gains in March as factory sales retreated 1.6 per cent to $49 billion, their first decline of 2008. The scope of March's slowdown was extensive as' of 21 manufacturing industries, representing 76 per cent of total sales, posted declines.
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