Things have been looking well on the front end of Canada, but it seems like everything was not as it seems. The growth of labor productivity in the nation has been trailing behind the numbers yielded by other major economies like the U.S. for several years now. Improvements have not been made yet and in fact, the new productivity data by Statistics Canada shows that the issue has gotten worse.
According to data by Statistics Canada that was calculated up to the end of 2011, the productivity performance between the U.S. and Canada were close up to 1980. However, the results began moving apart from each other since then. Most notable, Canada’s productivity only grew by 1.4 percent annually from 1980-2011 while the U.S.’ had 2.2 percent growth during the same period.
The Globe and Mail says that the future income of the nation will be at risk one day. This will be the most likely case if the downward trend is maintained in the coming years. To put it in perspective, the lagging productivity growth has resulted in a growing $7,000 per capita income gap between Canadian and American workers.
The government is yet to fully address the issue, and it is worrying analysts and economist alike. From the look of things, it seems like the problem will continue to get worse each year. There are even new looming factors that could further cripple the growth of Canadian productivity.
“Right-to-disconnect” policies being considered by Canada
Canadian companies are currently mulling over the issue of whether they should begin adopting “right-to-disconnect” regulations as part of their policies. This would essentially allow employees to ignore work-related messages or calls that they receive beyond their working hours. This of course would be beneficial for the workers but the same can’t be said for the companies.
In an email interview with BNN Bloomberg, Levitt LLP senior partner Howard Levitt says that “Right-to-disconnect legislation could have a debilitating impact on Canadian employers, particularly those which compete internationally since they may be required to respond in different time zones.”
This could further dent the productivity numbers of Canada. A survey reveals that 93 percent of respondents says employees agree with the right-to-disconnect policies. The remaining respondents disagree with it citing the fact that some organizations require their employees to be on-call.
If there is a time to worry about Canada’s productivity numbers, that is now. The issue is expected to go only deeper from here on out and there could be major implications in the future if it persists. Action is needed by the Canadian government and it is needed before it becomes too late.
(Featured image by Premier of Alberta via Flickr. CC BY-ND 2.0.)