--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-31/the-industry-origins-of-canadas-weaker-labour-productivity-performance-and-the-role-of-structural-adjustment-in-the-post-2000-period/" title: "The Industry Origins of Canada’s Weaker Labour Productivity Performance and the Role of Structural Adjustment in the Post-2000 Period" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T07:40:53+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T07:40:53+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Fall 2016" ipm_keyword: - "Canada" - "decomposition" - "FIRE" - "labour productivity" - "manufacturing" - "mining" - "post-2000 slowdown" - "Statistics Canada" - "structural adjustment" 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" --- # The Industry Origins of Canada’s Weaker Labour Productivity Performance and the Role of Structural Adjustment in the Post-2000 Period Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-31/the-industry-origins-of-canadas-weaker-labour-productivity-performance-and-the-role-of-structural-adjustment-in-the-post-2000-period/ # The Industry Origins of Canada’s Weaker Labour Productivity Performance and the Role of Structural Adjustment in the Post-2000 Period [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-31-2-Baldwin-Willox.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Baldwin, John, and Michael Willox. 2016. “The Industry Origins of Canada’s Weaker Labour Productivity Performance and the Role of Structural Adjustment in the Post-2000 Period.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 31 (Fall 2016): 19–36. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-31/the-industry-origins-of-canadas-weaker-labour-productivity-performance-and-the-role-of-structural-adjustment-in-the-post-2000-period/ ## Authors: - John Baldwin Statistics Canada - Michael Willox Statistics Canada ## IPM Issue 31 Fall 2016 pp. 19–36 ## 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/) [Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change Ulrich Kohli Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 64–81](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/) [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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The Canadian Experience Tim Sargent Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 39–53](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/how-does-industrial-policy-impact-output-hours-and-productivity-the-canadian-experience/) [Accounting for the Decline of Canada’s Real GDP Per Capita since Mid-2022 Philip Smith Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 83–100](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/accounting-for-the-decline-of-canadas-real-gdp-per-capita-since-mid-2022/) [IPM Issue 47 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/) [Cracking the Productivity Code: An International Comparison of UK Productivity John Van Reenen, Xuyi Yang Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 60–82](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/cracking-the-productivity-code-an-international-comparison-of-uk-productivity/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn This article examines how much of the slowdown in labour productivity growth observed in Canada’s business sector after 2000 was due to weaker productivity growth within industries and how much was due to structural adjustment. The analysis makes use of a decomposition method that differs from many of the standard decomposition approaches commonly found in the literature and allows for the contributions of changes in the importance of individual industries to be calculated. The approach reveals that the post-2000 slowdown was attributable entirely to weaker productivity growth within industries and that structural adjustment had a slight mitigating effect on the slowdown. Lower productivity growth within three industries – manufacturing; finance, insurance and real estate; and mining, oil and gas – accounted for all of the slowdown in business sector labour productivity growth in the 2000s. D u r i n g t h e p e r i o d f r o m 2 00 0 t o 20 1 4 Cet article examine dans quelle mesure le ralentissement de la croissance de la productivité du travail observé dans le secteur des entreprises au Canada après 2000 était dû à une plus faible croissance de la productivité au sein des industries et dans quelle mesure il était dû à l’ajustement structurel. L’analyse fait appel à une méthode de décomposition qui diffère de nombreuses approches standard couramment utilisées dans la littérature et permet de calculer les contributions des variations de l’importance des industries individuelles. L’approche révèle que le ralentissement post-2000 était entièrement attribuable à une plus faible croissance de la productivité au sein des industries et que l’ajustement structurel avait un léger effet atténuateur sur le ralentissement. La plus faible croissance de la productivité au sein de trois industries — la fabrication; la finance, les assurances et l’immobilier; et l’extraction minière, pétrolière et gazière — expliquait l’intégralité du ralentissement. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-31-2-Baldwin-Willox.pdf)