--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-19/can-sectoral-reallocations-of-labour-explain-canadas-abysmal-productivity-performance/" title: "Can Sectoral Reallocations of Labour Explain Canada’s Abysmal Productivity Performance?" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T07:31:41+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T07:31:41+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2010" ipm_keyword: - "business sector" - "Canada" - "decomposition" - "labour reallocation" - "manufacturing" - "post-2000 slowdown" - "productivity" - "resources" - "sectoral shift" ipm_research_theme: - "Productivity trends and comparisons" ipm_country_focus: - "Canada" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Can Sectoral Reallocations of Labour Explain Canada’s Abysmal Productivity Performance? Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-19/can-sectoral-reallocations-of-labour-explain-canadas-abysmal-productivity-performance/ # Can Sectoral Reallocations of Labour Explain Canada’s Abysmal Productivity Performance? [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-19-3-Sharpe.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Sharpe, Andrew. 2010. “Can Sectoral Reallocations of Labour Explain Canada’s Abysmal Productivity Performance?” International Productivity Monitor, No. 19 (Spring 2010): 40–49. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-19/can-sectoral-reallocations-of-labour-explain-canadas-abysmal-productivity-performance/ ## Author: - Andrew Sharpe Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## IPM Issue 19 Spring 2010 pp. 40–49 ## Related IPM articles [The Relationship between Efficiencies Defenses for Mergers and TFP Growth Robin Shaban Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 82–102](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/the-relationship-between-efficiencies-defenses-for-mergers-and-tfp-growth/) [Adult Skills and Productivity: New Evidence from PIAAC 2023 Dan Andrews, Balázs Égert, Christine de La Maisonneuve Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 41–63](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/adult-skills-and-productivity-new-evidence-from-piaac-2023/) [Appendix: Variable Definitions and Country/Sector Coverage for Regulatory Reform Analysis Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez, Giuseppe Nicoletti, Océane Vernerey Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–18](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/appendix-variable-definitions-and-country-sector-coverage-for-regulatory-reform-analysis/) [The Potential Impact of Pro-competitive Regulatory Reforms on Productivity and Growth in Canada Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez, Giuseppe Nicoletti, Océane Vernerey Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 3–40](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/the-potential-impact-of-pro-competitive-regulatory-reforms-on-productivity-and-growth-in-canada/) [IPM Issue 49 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark, Paul Schreyer Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/) [De-industrialization and the Great Productivity Slowdown: What Comes Next? 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This framework is used to analyze productivity growth in 12 Canadian industries for the 1961-2007 period and for several subperiods. The results do not support the common view that Canada’s weak post-2000 productivity performance is attributable to a reallocation of labour toward mining, oil and gas, a sector with low productivity growth. Rather, it was the fall in labour productivity growth in manufacturing that accounted for all of the slowdown in business sector productivity growth after 2000. P RODUCTIVITY GROWTH HAS BEEN slow in Ce rapport présente un cadre pour décomposer la croissance de la productivité globale en effets intrasectoriels et effets de réaffectation sectorielle. Ce cadre est utilisé pour analyser la croissance de la productivité dans 12 industries canadiennes pour la période 1961-2007 et plusieurs sous-périodes. Les résultats ne corroborent pas l’opinion courante selon laquelle la faible performance de productivité du Canada après 2000 est attribuable à une réaffectation de la main-d’œuvre vers l’extraction minière, pétrolière et gazière, un secteur à faible croissance de la productivité. C’est plutôt le recul de la croissance de la productivité du travail dans le secteur manufacturier qui a entièrement expliqué le ralentissement de la croissance de la productivité du secteur des entreprises après 2000. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-19-3-Sharpe.pdf)