Productivity in Manufacturing Industries, Canada, Japan and the United States, 1953-1986: Was the 'Productivity Slowdown' Reversed?

This paper analyzes total factor productivity growth and trends in relative efficiency levels in the national Two-Digit Manufacturing industries of Japan, Canada, and the United States during the last quarter-century. The well-known slowdown in productivity growth rates in the 1973-80 period was a common phenomenon across the three countries but was felt most strongly in Japan and least in Canada. While the 1980s saw a pick-up in productivity growth over the slowdown period, growth in productivity has not returned to the pre-1973 level. The productivity slowdown and any subsequent increase in productivity growth rates have been correlated across industries in the three countries to a very high degree.