Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Productivity is a key driver of economic growth and changes in living standards. Labour productivity growth implies a higher level of output for unit of labour input (hours worked or persons employed). This can be achieved if more capital is used in production or through improved overall efficiency with which labour and capital are used together, i.e., higher multifactor productivity growth (MFP). Productivity is also a key driver of international competitiveness, e.g. as measured by Unit Labour Costs (ULC).   The OECD Productivity Database aims at providing users with the most comprehensive and the latest productivity estimates. The update cycle is on a rolling basis, i.e. each variable in the dataset is made publicly available as soon as it is updated in the sources databases. However, some time lag may arise which affects individual series and/or countries for two reasons: first, hours worked data from the OECD Employment Outlook are typically updated less frequently than the OECD Annual National Accounts Database; second, source data for capital services are typically available in annual national accounts later than source data for labour productivity and ULCs.   Note to users: The OECD Productivity Database accounts for the methodological changes in national accounts' statistics, such as the implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) and the implementation of the international industrial classification ISIC Rev.4. These changes had an impact on output, labour and capital measurement. For Chile, China, Colombia, India, Japan, Turkey and the Russian Federation the indicators are in line with the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA); for all other countries, the indicators presented are based on the 2008 SNA

The productivity and income estimates presented in this dataset are mainly based on GDP, population and employment data from the OECD Annual National Accounts. Hours worked are sourced from the OECD Annual National Accounts, the OECD Employment Outlook and national sources. The OECD Productivity Database aims at providing users with the most comprehensive and the latest productivity estimates. The update cycle is on a rolling basis, i.e. each variable in the dataset is made publicly available as soon as it is updated in the sources databases. However, timely data issues may arise and affect individual series and/or individual countries. In particular, annual hours worked estimates from the OECD Employment Outlook are typically updated less frequently (once a year, in the summer) than series of hours worked from the OECD Annual National Accounts.

Because of the limited availability of official statistics on national supply-use and input-output tables in recent years – reflecting the fact that these are only typically available at best two or three years after the reference period to which they refer – TiVA indicators for the most recent years, as displayed in this dataset, are estimated using now-casting techniques. The approach (described in more detail in the accompanying methodological note) in essence estimates national input-output tables by projecting relationships observed in the latest TiVA benchmark year (currently 2011) into nowcast years (currently 2012-2014) but constrained to official estimates of gross output and value-added by industry and national accounts main aggregates of demand and trade, and supplemented by bilateral trade statistics, all of which are available throughout the nowcast period. Importantly, the projections of relationships in 2011 into 2012 are determined using a volume approach, to account for possible distortions that might be introduced – by for example differential price movements in imports and domestic production – if projections were made using nominal relationships. These estimates are then reflated into current prices, and simultaneously balanced – consistent with official volume and current price estimates of trade, demand and activity – to arrive at a balanced national input-output table in 2012, in nominal terms as well as in prices of 2011. Estimates for 2013 and 2014 are calculated in the same manner but using, respectively, the 2012 and 2013 relationships as the starting point.