IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sls/resrep/0404.html

Aggregate Labour Productivity Growth in Canada and the United States: Definitions, Trends and Measurement Issues

Author

Listed:
  • Centre for the Study of Living Standards

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Centre for the Study of Living Standards, 2004. "Aggregate Labour Productivity Growth in Canada and the United States: Definitions, Trends and Measurement Issues," CSLS Research Reports 2004-04, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:resrep:0404
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://csls.ca/research/aggregate-labour-productivity-growth-in-canada-and-the-united-states-definitions-trends-and-measurement-issues/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/csls2004-04.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey I. Bernstein & Richard G. Harris & Andrew Sharpe, 2002. "The Widening Canada-US Productivity Gap in Manufacturing," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 5, pages 3-22, Fall.
    2. Dirk Pilat & Paul Schreyer, 2004. "The OECD Productivity Database: An Overview," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 8, pages 59-65, Spring.
    3. Jianmin Tang & Weimin Wang, 2004. "Sources of aggregate labour productivity growth in Canada and the United States," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 421-444, May.
    4. Andrew Sharpe, 2003. "Why Are Americans More Productive Than Canadians?," CSLS Research Reports 2003-03, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    5. Andrew Sharpe, 2002. "Recent Productivity Development in the United States and Canada: Implications for the Canada-U.S. Productivity and Income Gap," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 4, pages 3-14, Spring.
    6. Reichlin, Lucrezia & Nicoletti, Giuseppe, 1993. "Trends and Cycles in Labour Productivity in the Major OECD Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 808, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    7. Nadim Ahmad & François Lequiller & Pascal Marianna & Dirk Pilat & Paul Schreyer & Anita Wölfl, 2003. "Comparing Labour Productivity Growth in the OECD Area: The Role of Measurement," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2003/14, OECD Publishing.
    8. Benoit Robidoux, 2003. "Future Productivity Growth in Canada: The Role of the Service Sector," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 7, pages 58-65, Fall.
    9. Someshwar Rao & Andrew Sharpe & Jianmin Tang, 2004. "Productivity Growth in Service Industries: A Canadian Success Story," CSLS Research Reports 2004-01, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    10. Andrew Sharpe, 2003. "Why are Americans More Productive than Canadians?," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 6, pages 19-37, Spring.
    11. Dennis J Fixler & Marshall B Reinsdorf & Shaunda Villones, 2010. "Measuring the services of commercial banks in the NIPA," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), The IFC's contribution to the 57th ISI Session, Durban, August 2009, volume 33, pages 346-349, Bank for International Settlements.
    12. Roland Spant, 2003. "Why Net Domestic Product Should Replace Gross Domestic Product as a Measure of Economic Growth," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 7, pages 39-43, Fall.
    13. Baldwin, John R. Harchaoui, Tarek, 2002. "Productivity Growth in Canada," Productivity Growth in Canada, Statistics Canada, Economic Analysis Division, number stcb6e.
    14. Andrew Sharpe, 2004. "Recent Productivity Developments in Canada and the United States: Productivity Growth Deceleration versus Acceleration," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 8, pages 16-26, Spring.
    15. Yanjun Liu & Nell Hamalainen & Bing-Sun Wong, "undated". "Economic Analysis and Modelling Using Fisher Chain Data," Working Papers-Department of Finance Canada 2003-13, Department of Finance Canada.
    16. Kitchen, John, 2003. "A Note on the Observed Downward Bias in Real-Time Estimates of Payroll Jobs Growth in Early Expansions," MPRA Paper 21070, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Paul Schreyer, 2001. "The OECD Productivity Manual: A Guide to the Measurement of Industry-Level and Aggregate Productivity," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 2, pages 37-51, Spring.
    18. Benoît Robidoux & Bing-Sun Wong, 2003. "Has Trend Productivity Growth Increased in Canada?," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 6, pages 47-55, Spring.
    19. Bart van Ark, 2002. "Understanding Productivity and Income Differentials Among OECD Countries: A Survey," The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress, in: Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director & France St-Hilaire, Vice-President , Research & Keith Banting, Di (ed.), The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity, volume 2, Centre for the Study of Living Standards;The Institutute for Research on Public Policy.
    20. Tiff Macklem, 2003. "Future Productivity Growth in Canada: Comparing to the United States," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 7, pages 50-57, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Someshwar Rao & Andrew Sharpe & Jianmin Tang, 2004. "Productivity Growth in Service Industries: A Canadian Success Story," CSLS Research Reports 2004-01, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    2. Jeremy Smith, 2004. "Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 8, pages 47-58, Spring.
    3. Andrew Sharpe & Alexander Murray, 2011. "State of the Evidence on Health as a Determinant of Productivity," CSLS Research Reports 2011-04, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    4. Andrew Sharpe, 2004. "Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 9, pages 15-24, Fall.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeremy Smith, 2004. "Assessing Aggregate Labour Productivity Trends in Canada and the United States: Total Economy versus Business Sector Perspectives," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 8, pages 47-58, Spring.
    2. Jean-Francois Arsenault & Andrew Sharpe, 2008. "An Analysis of the Causes of Weak Labour Productivity Growth in Canada since 2000," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 16, pages 14-39, Spring.
    3. Richard Dion & Robert Fay, 2008. "Understanding Productivity: A Review of Recent Technical Research," Discussion Papers 08-3, Bank of Canada.
    4. Someshwar Rao & Jianmin Tang & Weimin Wang, 2003. "Canada's Recent Productivity Record and Capital Accumulation," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 7, pages 24-38, Fall.
    5. Mr. Ayhan Kose & Mr. Roberto Cardarelli, 2004. "Economic Integration, Business Cycle, and Productivity in North America," IMF Working Papers 2004/138, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Wulong Gu & Michael Willox, 2018. "Productivity Growth in Canada and the United States: Recent Industry Trends and Potential Explanations," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 35, pages 73-94, Fall.
    7. Heisz, Andrew & Larochelle-Cote, Sebastien, 2007. "Understanding Regional Differences in Work Hours," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2007293e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    8. Lin Shao & Rongsheng Tang, 2021. "Allocative Efficiency and Aggregate Productivity Growth in Canada and the United States," Staff Working Papers 21-1, Bank of Canada.
    9. Don Drummond & Evan Capeluck & Matthew Calver, 2015. "The Key Challenge for Canadian Public Policy: Generating Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth," CSLS Research Reports 2015-11, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    10. James (Jim) C. MacGee & Joel Rodrigue, 2024. "The Distributional Origins of the Canada-US GDP and Labour Productivity Gaps," Staff Working Papers 24-49, Bank of Canada.
    11. Centre for the Study of Living Standards, 2005. "What Explains the Canada-US ICT Investment Intensity Gap?," CSLS Research Reports 2005-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    12. Harchaoui, Tarek Jean, Jimmy Tarkhani, Faouzi, 2003. "Prosperity and Productivity: A Canada-Australia Comparison," Economic Analysis (EA) Research Paper Series 2003018e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    13. Anita Wölfl, 2004. "Productivity Growth in Services Industries: Is There a Role for Measurement?," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 8, pages 66-80, Spring.
    14. Hartwig Jochen, 2006. "Messprobleme bei der Ermittlung des Wachstums der Arbeitsproduktivität - dargestellt anhand eines Vergleichs der Schweiz mit den USA / Measurement Problems with Respect to Labour Productivity Growth - Illustrated by a Comparison of Switzerland with t," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 226(4), pages 418-435, August.
    15. John R. Baldwin & Tarek M. Harchaoui, 2006. "The Integration of the Canadian Productivity Accounts within the System of National Accounts: Current Status and Challenges Ahead," NBER Chapters, in: A New Architecture for the US National Accounts, pages 439-470, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Baldwin, John R. Maynard, Jean-Pierre Tanguay, Marc Wong, Fanny Yan, Beiling, 2005. "Comparaison des niveaux de productivité au Canada et aux États-Unis : étude de certains aspects de la mesure," Série de documents de recherche sur l'analyse économique (AE) 2005028f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    17. Andrew Sharpe, 2004. "Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 9, pages 15-24, Fall.
    18. van Norden, Simon, 2011. "Current trends in the analysis of Canadian productivity growth," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 5-25, January.
    19. Andrew Sharpe, 2006. "Lessons for Canada from International Productivity Experience," CSLS Research Reports 2006-02, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    20. Pierre Kohler & Servaas Storm, 2016. "CETA without Blinders: How Cutting “Trade Costs and More” Will Cause Unemployment, Inequality, and Welfare Losses," International Journal of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 257-293, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sls:resrep:0404. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CSLS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cslssca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.