The fourth issue of the International Productivity Monitor produced by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards contains five articles. Topics covered are: recent productivity developments in the United States and Canada and implications for the Canada-U.S. productivity and income gaps; the...

In recent decades, governments in Canada have pursued market-oriented policies at both the macro and micro levels. Economists believe that such policies should foster productivity growth. Since 2000, however, productivity growth in Canada has been dismal, much below that in the United States and...

In recent years, the productivity performance of oil and gas extraction in Canada has been dismal. Based on official real GDP and labour input estimates from Statistics Canada, labour productivity in oil and gas extraction fell 8.23 per cent per year between the 2000 cyclical peak and 2007, with...

The forest products sector in Canada has faced hard times since 2000. In terms of productivity growth, the sector as a whole has performed poorly relative to the total-economy average. Labour productivity in the sector grew by 0.38 per cent per year between 2000 and 2007, below the economy-wide...

In recent years, the productivity performance of mining in Canada has been very poor. Based on official real GDP and labour input estimates from Statistics Canada, labour productivity in mining fell by 2.21 per cent per year between the 2000 cyclical peak and 2007, with capital productivity down...

This report aims to accomplish three objectives: provide an assessment of Canada’s productivity performance; provide a synthesis of the productivity studies conducted by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) and the McKinsey Global Institute; and develop a framework for unbundling...

Productivity research is Canada has traditionally focused on narrow economic issues. In our view, it has given inadequate attention to the broader ramifications of productivity, both in terms of shedding light on the importance of productivity for the advancement of various aspects of social...

The Canadian service sector has performed well in recent years in terms of labour and multifactor productivity growth, both in absolute terms and relative to the United States, offsetting much of the poorer performance of the manufacturing sector. Service sector labour productivity growth has...

The productivity performance of the construction sector in Canada over the last quarter century has been dismal, with output per hour lower in 2000 than in 1977. In this article Andrew Sharpe from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards examines productivity trends in this sector and...

The issue of sustainability of natural capital and implications for economic growth ranks high in the interests of both policy makers and the general public, as manifested by the intense debate on Canada's ratification of the Kyoto accord. In this chapter, Nancy Olewiler makes an important...