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

Unit of measure usedIndex: Year 2015 = 100 The Hourly Earnings (MEI) dataset contains predominantly monthly statistics, and associated statistical methodological information, for the 35 OECD member countries and for selected non-member economies.  The MEI Earnings dataset provides monthly and quarterly data on employees' earnings series. It includes earnings series in manufacturing and for the private economic sector. Mostly the sources of the data are business surveys covering different economic sectors, but in some cases administrative data are also used. The target series for hourly earnings correspond to seasonally adjusted average total earnings paid per employed person per hour, including overtime pay and regularly recurring cash supplements. Where hourly earnings series are not available, a series could refer to weekly or monthly earnings. In this case, a series for full-time or full-time equivalent employees is preferred to an all employees series.

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.

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 OECD Annual National Accounts database. However, timely data issues may arise and affect individual series and/or individual countries. Sectors differ from each other with respect to their productivity growth. Understanding the drivers of productivity growth at the total economy level requires an understanding of the contribution of each sector. Data of real gross value added, labour compensation, hours worked and employment are sourced from the OECD Annual National Accounts.

STAN Indicators provides annual indicators related to production and employment structure, labour productivity and labour costs, investment, business research and development expenditures and international trade patterns. Data are presented for OECD countries and cover the time-period 1970-2011, although the time coverage may vary across countries and indicators. Series are provided for a wide range of economic activities (according to an ISIC Rev.4 based hierarchy) compatible with the list in the underlying STAN Database in ISIC Rev. 4. STAN Indicators belong to the STAN family datasets; they are primarily drawn from STAN Database for Structural Analysis (STAN), STAN Bilateral Trade (BTDIxE) and STAN Research & Development Expenditures in Industry (ANBERD). Indicators are compiled to respond to the needs of analysts and researchers interested in measuring economic performance, productivity growth, competitiveness and structural changes. They also complement the OECD publications, Science Technology and Industry Scoreboard and Economic Globalisation Indicators.

Early Estimates of Quarterly Unit Labour Cost (ULC) indicators for the total economy provide current edge data on ULCs and their components labour productivity and labour compensation per employed person.  Recent and more longer terms trends in productivity and competitiveness on the total economy level and by sector or activity can be found in the OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators.Data of quarterly GDP, labour compensation and employment are sourced from the OECD Quarterly National Accounts and the Main Economic Indicators Databases.  Early Estimates of Quarterly ULCs are available for all OECD member countries (except Chile, Iceland, Mexico), as well as for the zone aggregates Euro area and OECD Total. Unit labour costs (ULCs) measure the average cost of labour per unit of output. They are calculated as the ratio of total labour costs to real output. Different from the estimates of annual ULC above, the Early Estimates of Quarterly ULC use employment and not hours worked as measure of labour input (see below "Other aspects, Recommended uses and limitations"). Quarterly ULCs can be decomposed into the components labour compensation per employee and output per person employed (employment-based labour productivity). The OECD estimates of total labour costs adjust for labour compensation of self-employed persons Every effort has been made to ensure that data are comparable across countries. The adjustment for the self-employed assumes that labour compensation per person is equivalent for the self-employed and employees. This assumption may be more or less valid across different countries and economic activities.  EEQ ULCs are also fully compatible with the ULC series published by the ECB which provides ULC series for 21 EU OECD member countries and Euro area. Those for nine Non-EU member OECD countries are compiled by the OECD following a methodology that is fully consistent with that used by the ECB.