Summary
- Since 2006, Canadian businesses have seen labour productivity increase by no more than a sliver.
- The phenomenon is broad-based. Worse still, 7 of the 15 industries that make up the business sector have actually registered a decline in productivity.
- The reallocation of labour from the manufacturing industry to construction and the service industries has contributed to dampen productivity growth. However, this is not a primary factor.
- The enigma raises concerns in light of the fact that, in a similar context of stagnant output, U.S. businesses rationalized their labour utilization to the point of generating enviable productivity gains. In order to solve the mystery, then, we must figure out why Canadian businesses did not feel the need to go as far as their U.S. counterparts in this regard.
