Technology and productivity: a critique of aggregate indicators

Figures & data

Figure 1. Annual percentage change for United States: real GDP, labor productivity, and TFP. Notes: Labor productivity and TFP are from OECD Productivity Statistics. Real GDP is from BEA in 2012 dollars.

Table 1. Comparing real GDP growth, labor productivity, and TFP.

Nation	Indicators	1985–94	1995–2004	2005–14	2015–19
United States	Real GDP	3.10	3.35	1.63	2.30
	Labor productivity	1.46	2.27	1.27	0.86
	TFP	0.79	1.35	0.54	0.64
France	Real GDP	2.29	2.36	0.99	1.64
	Labor productivity	2.31	1.83	0.62	0.80
	TFP	1.24	1.02	0.05	0.36
Germany	Real GDP	2.73	1.29	1.40	1.71
	Labor productivity	2.56	1.54	0.84	0.81
	TFP	1.78	0.78	0.54	0.51

Notes. Data are annual percentage changes. Labor productivity and TFP are from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2021). Real GDP is in constant local currency as reported to the World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator).

Table 2. Employment by major industry sector (employment in thousands of jobs).

Industry sector	Employment, 2020	Percent distribution, 2020
Total	153,533.8	100.0
Nonagriculture wage and salary	142,795.2	93.0
Goods-producing, excluding agriculture	20,021.6	13.0
Mining	573.1	0.4
Construction	7,269.4	4.7
Manufacturing	12,179.1	7.9
Services-providing, excluding special industries	122,773.6	80.0
Utilities	541.9	0.4
Wholesale trade	5,639.8	3.7
Retail trade	14,853.1	9.7
Transportation and warehousing	5,555.1	3.6
Information	2,694.4	1.8
Financial activities	8,723.7	5.7
Professional and business services	20,245.7	13.2
Educational services	3,459.4	2.3
Health care and social assistance	19,776.2	12.9
Leisure and hospitality	13,326.7	8.7
Other services	6,048.8	3.9
Federal government	2,929.0	1.9
State and local government	18,979.8	12.4
Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting	2,241.3	1.5
Agriculture wage and salary	1,500.8	1.0
Agriculture self-employed	740.5	0.5
Nonagriculture self-employed	8,497.3	5.5

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/employment-by-major-industry-sector.htm).

Figure 2. Share of US households using specific technologies, 1903–2019. Source: OurWorldinData.org. See also Desjardins (2018). Much of the data were part of The CHAT Data Set (Comin and Hobijn 2009).

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2021. Compendium of Productivity Indicators. Paris: OECD.

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Desjardins, J. 2018. “The Rising Speed of Technological Adoption.” February 14. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rising-speed-technological-adoption/

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Comin, D.and B. Hobijn. 2009. “The CHAT Datasetie .” NBER Working Paper 15319., National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.

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