According to the latest data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada is lagging behind in terms of productivity.
The average level of GDP per hour worked in the country is actually lower than in the U.S. While our neighbor creates $61.60, only $51.80 is produced here. In fact, Canada is less productive than most of the OECD compared industrialized countries.
Norway holds all the best productivity figures. GDP per hour worked reaches 140% that of the U.S., while fewer hours are worked in Scandinavia. This is actually one of the places where the least hours are spent at work, exceeding by just a few hours Germany and the Netherlands, the countries with the shortest schedules. It is not the time spent at the office that is important, rather what is being done.
Conversely, more work does not necessarily mean more pay. In Mexico, for example, the average hours worked per person is the highest among OECD countries (2,226 hours), but GDP per hour (US $19.20) is the lowest. We can not blame the individual for these low productivity indicators. However, we can assume that the Mexican economic activity has little added value.
These productivity measures must indeed be analyzed with caution, since GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a year within a country. It does not refer in any way to the performance or effectiveness of an employee at work. In addition, the estimates reflect changes that come from other types of factors, such as capital inflows or efficiency of production processes, like new machinery in a factory, for example.
Reference:
Productivité OCDE http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=LEVEL&lang=fr#
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130906/dq130906b-fra.htm