--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-42/why-was-us-labour-productivity-growth-so-high-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-the-role-of-labour-composition/" title: "Why Was US Labour Productivity Growth So High During the COVID-19 Pandemic? The Role of Labour Composition" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T08:02:00+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T08:02:00+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2022" ipm_keyword: - "2020Q2" - "BLS" - "composition effect" - "COVID-19" - "labour productivity" - "leisure hospitality" - "pandemic" - "skill level" - "United States" - "wages" ipm_research_theme: - "Labour" ipm_country_focus: - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Why Was US Labour Productivity Growth So High During the COVID-19 Pandemic? The Role of Labour Composition Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-42/why-was-us-labour-productivity-growth-so-high-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-the-role-of-labour-composition/ # Why Was US Labour Productivity Growth So High During the COVID-19 Pandemic? The Role of Labour Composition [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-42-4-Stewart.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Stewart, Jay. 2022. “Why Was US Labour Productivity Growth So High During the COVID-19 Pandemic? The Role of Labour Composition.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 42 (Spring 2022): 87–103. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-42/why-was-us-labour-productivity-growth-so-high-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-the-role-of-labour-composition/ ## Author: - Jay Stewart U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; U.S. Census Bureau; University of Maryland; New Light Technologies ## IPM Issue 42 Spring 2022 pp. 87–103 ## Related IPM articles [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/) [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? Paul Fisher Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 115–138](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/de-industrialization-and-the-great-productivity-slowdown-what-comes-next/) [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/) [Are Intangibles Running out of Steam? Bart van Ark, Klaas de Vries, Abdul Erumban Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 38–59](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/are-intangibles-running-out-of-steam/) [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/) [Intangible Capital, TFP Growth and Green Shoots in New Productivity Data Filippo Bontadini, Carol Corrado, Jonathan Haskel, Massimiliano Iommi, Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, Tsutomu Miyagawa Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 3–37](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/intangible-capital-tfp-growth-and-green-shoots-in-new-productivity-data/) [The Post-2001 Productivity Growth Divergence between Canada and the United States Wulong Gu, Michael Willox Fall 2023 | IPM Issue 45 | pp. 28–60](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-45/the-post-2001-productivity-growth-divergence-between-canada-and-the-united-states/) [Decomposing Canada’s Post-2000 Productivity Performance and Pandemic-Era Productivity Slowdown Chris Haun, Tim Sargent Fall 2023 | IPM Issue 45 | pp. 5–27](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-45/decomposing-canadas-post-2000-productivity-performance-and-pandemic-era-productivity-slowdown/) [Lessons from a Career in Productivity Research: Some Answers, A Glimpse of the Future, and Much Left to Learn Martin Baily Spring 2023 | IPM Issue 44 | pp. 120–149](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-44/lessons-from-a-career-in-productivity-research-some-answers-a-glimpse-of-the-future-and-much-left-to-learn/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn In the first few weeks of the COVID-19 recession, around 20 million US workers lost their jobs, with half of those losses occurring in the last two weeks of March 2020. On the tail of these unprecedented job losses, labour productivity grew at an annualized rate of 10.3 per cent in 2020Q2 and the average hourly wage increased sharply. This study examines how these phenomena are related. Because most of the job losses were in lowwage industries or among low-wage workers in high wage industries, the average skill level of the labour force increased substantially. This study finds that this increase in average skill level accounted for 71 per cent (7.3 percentage points) of labour productivity growth in 2020Q2, and that about one-third of the increase in average skill level was due to the change in the distribution of workers across major industries, mainly because of the massive job losses in leisure and hospitality and other low-wage industries. Altogether, changes in the distribution of workers across major industries accounted for 24 per cent (2.5 percentage points) of the 10.3 per cent increase in labour productivity Dans les premières semaines de la récession due à la COVID-19, environ 20 millions de travailleurs américains ont perdu leur emploi, la moitié de ces pertes survenant dans les deux dernières semaines de mars 2020. À la suite de ces pertes d’emplois sans précédent, la productivité du travail a progressé à un taux annualisé de 10,3 % au deuxième trimestre 2020 et le salaire horaire moyen a fortement augmenté. Cette étude examine comment ces phénomènes sont liés. Parce que la plupart des pertes d’emplois concernaient des industries à bas salaires ou des travailleurs à bas salaires dans des industries à salaires élevés, le niveau de qualification moyen de la population active a considérablement augmenté. L’étude constate que cette hausse du niveau de qualification moyen a expliqué 71 % de la croissance de la productivité du travail au deuxième trimestre 2020. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-42-4-Stewart.pdf)