Quarterly results from the Business Outlook Survey (BOS) are based on interviews with about 10 firms in the primary sector, 23 in the manufacturing sector, 21 in the CITU sector, 15 in the trade sector, 14 in the FIRE sector and 16 in the CPBS sector (sectors are defined below). This page presents BOS data for each of these sectors. For more information, see the backgrounder.
Sectors are defined by the grouping of North American Industry Classification System codes as follows: primary sector: 11 and 21; manufacturing: 311–339; construction, information and cultural industries (CITU): 22, 23, 48, 49 and 51; trade: 41, 44 and 45; finance, insurance, real estate and leasing (FIRE): 52–53; and commercial, personal and business services (CPBS): 54, 55, 56, 71, 72 and 81. Because the responses are presented here as four-quarter moving averages, these charts may not show the same movements as the aggregate BOS data published each quarter.
Business activity
As of 2023Q1, Chart 1-A: Past sales declines will replace Chart 1-B: Past sales growth. See Backgrounder on removing the past sales growth question from the Business Outlook Survey for details.
Chart 1-B: Past sales growth
* Percentage of firms reporting faster growth minus the percentage reporting slower growth
Note: This question has been removed from the Business Outlook Survey as of the first quarter of 2023 survey.
Chart 2: Future sales growth
* Percentage of firms expecting faster growth minus the percentage expecting slower growth
† Percentage of firms reporting that indicators have improved minus the percentage reporting that indicators have deteriorated
Chart 3: Investment in machinery and equipment
* Percentage of firms expecting higher investment minus the percentage expecting lower investment
Chart 4: Credit conditions
* Percentage of firms reporting tightened terms and conditions minus the percentage reporting eased terms and conditions. For this question, the balance of opinion excludes firms that responded “not applicable.”
Chart 5: Future employment level
* Percentage of firms expecting higher levels of employment minus the percentage expecting lower levels
Pressures on production capacity
Chart 6: Ability to meet demand
* Share of firms reporting some or significant difficulty
Chart 7: Labour shortages
* Share of firms reporting labour shortages
† Percentage of firms reporting more intense labour shortages minus the percentage reporting less intense labour shortages
Wages, prices and inflation
Chart 8: Wage growth
* Percentage of firms expecting higher labour cost increases minus the percentage expecting lower labour cost increases
Chart 9: Input price inflation
* Percentage of firms expecting greater price increases minus the percentage expecting lesser price increases
Chart 10: Output price inflation
* Percentage of firms expecting greater price increases minus the percentage expecting lesser price increases