Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives
The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough discussion of the definitional and data issues associated with the measurement of aggregate labour productivity growth in Canada and the United States. The paper examines all data sources for output, employment and hours estimates in the two coun...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre for the Study of Living Standards
2004-04-01
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| Series: | International Productivity Monitor |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.csls.ca/ipm/8/smith-e.pdf |
| _version_ | 1817983738521321472 |
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| author | Jeremy Smith |
| author_facet | Jeremy Smith |
| author_sort | Jeremy Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough discussion of the definitional and data issues
associated with the measurement of aggregate labour productivity growth in Canada and the
United States. The paper examines all data sources for output, employment and hours estimates
in the two countries, and attempts to identify the series that are the most appropriate for the
calculation of aggregate labour productivity – both from the perspective of the methodological
merits of each series and of cross-country comparability. It also assesses the sensitivity of
Canada-U.S. aggregate labour productivity growth comparisons to the choice of monitoring
trends at the total economy or business sector level, investigates the sources of the differences
between trends and comparisons assessed at each level, and discusses the advantages and
disadvantages of making comparisons at each level. The paper finds compelling reasons to
believe that the monitoring of total economy productivity trends is desirable in addition to the
more common practice of focusing on the business sector. Canada has lagged the United States
in terms of aggregate labour productivity growth over 1981-2003 to a much smaller degree
according to total economy trends than according to business sector trends. This is caused by
very high measured labour productivity growth in the non-business sector in Canada relative to
the United States, which calls into question the reliability of productivity growth comparisons
made at the total economy level. This also raises questions about the comparability of GDP
growth between the two countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T23:36:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-36d867344a174fd38784bc539c9da632 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1492-9759 1492-9767 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T23:36:54Z |
| publishDate | 2004-04-01 |
| publisher | Centre for the Study of Living Standards |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Productivity Monitor |
| spelling | doaj.art-36d867344a174fd38784bc539c9da6322022-12-22T02:24:42ZengCentre for the Study of Living StandardsInternational Productivity Monitor1492-97591492-97672004-04-0184758Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector PerspectivesJeremy Smith0Centre for the Study of Living StandardsThe purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough discussion of the definitional and data issues associated with the measurement of aggregate labour productivity growth in Canada and the United States. The paper examines all data sources for output, employment and hours estimates in the two countries, and attempts to identify the series that are the most appropriate for the calculation of aggregate labour productivity – both from the perspective of the methodological merits of each series and of cross-country comparability. It also assesses the sensitivity of Canada-U.S. aggregate labour productivity growth comparisons to the choice of monitoring trends at the total economy or business sector level, investigates the sources of the differences between trends and comparisons assessed at each level, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of making comparisons at each level. The paper finds compelling reasons to believe that the monitoring of total economy productivity trends is desirable in addition to the more common practice of focusing on the business sector. Canada has lagged the United States in terms of aggregate labour productivity growth over 1981-2003 to a much smaller degree according to total economy trends than according to business sector trends. This is caused by very high measured labour productivity growth in the non-business sector in Canada relative to the United States, which calls into question the reliability of productivity growth comparisons made at the total economy level. This also raises questions about the comparability of GDP growth between the two countries.http://www.csls.ca/ipm/8/smith-e.pdflabour productivity growthmeasurement issuesbusiness sector |
| spellingShingle | Jeremy Smith Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives International Productivity Monitor labour productivity growth measurement issues business sector |
| title | Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives |
| title_full | Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives |
| title_fullStr | Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives |
| title_short | Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives |
| title_sort | assessing aggregate labour productivity trends in canada and the united states total economy versus business sector perspectives |
| topic | labour productivity growth measurement issues business sector |
| url | http://www.csls.ca/ipm/8/smith-e.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jeremysmith assessingaggregatelabourproductivitytrendsincanadaandtheunitedstatestotaleconomyversusbusinesssectorperspectives |