ca en future-of-productivity online 1 .pdf - The...

The productivity gap
Productivity barriers The game plan Courage to lead The authors
The future of productivity
An eight-step game plan for Canada
Part of Deloitte’s Future of Canada series

Introduction The Deloitte study
The productivity gap
Productivity barriers The game plan Courage to lead The authors
The productivity gap
Demographic pressure
Message from Bill Currie
“
Deloitte believes it has an obligation to be involved
in things that matter to our country, and particularly
to our business community. Productivity is an
issue that has been growing unchecked in Canada for
a long time. It's not about how hard we work, but
what we accomplish.
”
Bill Currie
Vice Chair and Americas Managing Director, Consulting

Introduction The Deloitte study
The productivity gap
Productivity barriers The game plan Courage to lead The authors
The productivity gap
Demographic pressure
To uncover the source of Canada’s productivity challenge
and specific measures to correct it, Deloitte undertook a
comprehensive year-long study. We surveyed 902 North
American business leaders and conducted a deep examination
of more than 25 drivers of productivity – everything from our
national brand to military spending.
Our study substantiated for the first time that Canadians are
indeed more risk averse than Americans, despite the current
positive economic climate. In a global marketplace where our
traditional competitive advantages are quickly eroding, what
does this mean for Canada’s future?
Defining productivity
A nation’s productivity is determined by the amount of output,
measured by GDP, which the average employee in that country
creates in an hour.
Improving productivity does not mean, as so many believe, working
longer hours for lower pay – it relies on employing a significant
proportion of the population in jobs whose outputs are not
"commoditized," and can command a premium.
The Deloitte study

Introduction The Deloitte study
The productivity gap
Productivity barriers The game plan Courage to lead The authors
The productivity gap
Demographic pressure
The erosion of Canada’s traditional competitive advantages is
exposing Canada’s high standard of living to a problem that has
been growing unchecked for almost thirty years. In the early
1980s, the productivity of the Canadian economy was comparable
to that of the United States.
As growth in U.S. productivity outstripped Canada’s in the
ensuing decade, a gap opened between the two countries. Today,
Canadian output per worker is only 86% of American output.
Canada’s poor productivity performance is not limited to
comparisons with the United States. From 2001-2009, our
annualized productivity growth of 0.7% was in the bottom
quartile of the OECD, far below traditional comparators like
Australia (1.1%), as well as other small economies like Israel
(1.3%) and Austria (1.4%).