The productivity puzzle needs attention in B.C. A growing inventory of data shows it should also be atop corporate priority lists across the country. Last year’s Conference Board of Canada labour productivity rankings assigned a wide range of grades to the country’s provinces based on several productivity metrics.
Labour productivity – a measurement of average hourly worker output – reflected poorly on B.C.
The board’s report also pointed out that the country as a whole has made little progress in improving labour productivity compared with international competitors like the United States.
Much debate annually swirls around whether such metrics are accurate indicators of workforce efficiency, but there is little debate about the need for improvement if local standards of living are to be maintained.
A new publication from the U.S.-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) adds fresh perspective to the conversation.
The publication’s author, ITIF president Robert Atkinson, argues that governments in underachieving nations like Canada need to be more proactive in crafting productivity strategies and promoting productivity in organizations. Free enterprisers will bristle at any suggestion to increase government meddling in the marketplace, but Atkinson’s recommendations have much merit. Among other things, he argues that government should create productivity agencies to establish and co-ordinate regional productivity agendas and that political and other preferences for smaller companies should be eliminated because they’re generally less productive than their larger counterparts.
In Canada, where foundational economic pillars like energy and resource extraction continue to be under fire on many fronts, the economic realities of developing innovative technologies and alternative economic drivers are becoming increasingly critical. Sharpening basics like productivity is likewise fundamental for a country that has thus far done a poor job of investing in that critical piece of its economic future.
