Productivity in Canada – Gone into reverse in the past five years

Not only has Canada’s productivity lagged the U.S. for decades, the trend has actually gone into reverse in the past five years.

It is not news that Canada’s productivity performance is listless and lagging U.S. trends. That has been going on for decades. But what is news is that productivity has actually gone into reverse in the past five years—i.e., it has declined, taking real GDP per capita with it on a downward path. The sustained decline in recent years is without precedent in the post-war era. And we can’t (entirely) blame the pandemic for the recent sickly productivity trends, as the U.S. has managed near-normal growth, on average, over the past five years (Chart 1).

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ Canada’s Perennial Productivity Puzzle