Labor Productivity Growth and Industry Structure : The Impact of Industry Structure on Productivity Growth, Export Prices and Labor Compensation

In this paper, labor productivity growth and its impacts are studied at the industry level. The development of productivity is analyzed in 54 industries in 14 EU countries and in the US between 1979 and 2001. The conclusion of the study is that the industry structure that leads to fast productivity growth is connected to falling export prices. The relationship between labor productivity growth and labor compensation growth is relative weak and, therefore, the majority of the utility resulting from the productivity growth does not benefit the labor force