--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/" title: "Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T08:15:33+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-17T10:13:11+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Fall 2025" ipm_keyword: - "ALP" - "capital" - "dual space" - "Geneva" - "Kohli" - "labour productivity" - "technological change" - "TFP" - "TLP" - "Total Labour Productivity" - "U.S." ipm_research_theme: - "Measurement and methodology" ipm_country_focus: - "International" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/ # Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-49-3-Kohli.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Kohli, Ulrich. 2025. “Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 49 (Fall 2025): 64–81. https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/ ## Author: - Ulrich Kohli Swiss National Bank ## IPM Issue 49 Fall 2025 pp. 64–81 ## Related IPM articles [Efficiency Adjustment of Hours Worked: Two Possible Modifications of a Jorgensen Production Model Barbara Fraumeni Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 103–115](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/efficiency-adjustment-of-hours-worked-two-possible-modifications-of-a-jorgensen-production-model/) [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/) [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/) [The UK Productivity Slowdown: A Review of Timing, Magnitude, and Drivers Josh Martin Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 1–34](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/the-uk-productivity-slowdown-a-review-of-timing-magnitude-and-drivers/) [Appendix: UK Productivity Growth Rates Across Data Vintages and Studies Josh Martin Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 65–73](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/appendix-uk-productivity-growth-rates-across-data-vintages-and-studies/) [Opportunities and Risks of Artificial Intelligence for Productivity Francesco Filippucci, Peter Gal, Katharina Laengle, Matthias Schief, Filiz Unsal Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 1–26](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/opportunities-and-risks-of-artificial-intelligence-for-productivity/) [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/) [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/) [Appendix: EUKLEMS & INTANProd Industry Coverage and Intangible Asset Treatment Filippo Bontadini, Carol Corrado, Jonathan Haskel, Massimiliano Iommi, Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, Tsutomu Miyagawa Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 1–4](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/appendix-euklems-intanprod-industry-coverage-and-intangible-asset-treatment/) [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/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn Average labour productivity (ALP) is today the productivity measure most used by policy makers, the media, and the general public. Economists recognize however that it is an inadequate measure of technological change. This is because ALP is a hybrid measure that captures both shifts in the production possibilities frontier and movements along the frontier itself. Thus, the flaw of ALP as a measure of technological change is not that it uses labour as a benchmark, which is a perfectly appropriate, but that, by being a partial measure of productivity, it ignores the role of capital, not just when accounting for technological change, but, even much more seriously, in production altogether. Put in other words, the numerator of the ALP ratio is not consistent with its denominator as a measure of technological change, and it is not the denominator that is at fault, but the numerator. A complete, or total measure of labour productivity (TLP) is therefore proposed and compared to the ALP and the better-known total factor productivity (TFP) measures. The relationship between the three productivity measures can also be analyzed in the dual price space. Numerical results for the U.S. private nonfarm business sector are provided as an illustration. La productivité moyenne du travail (PTT) est aujourd’hui la mesure de productivité la plus utilisée par les décideurs, les médias et le grand public. Les économistes reconnaissent cependant qu’il s’agit d’une mesure inadéquate du changement technologique, car la PTT est une mesure hybride qui capte à la fois les déplacements de la frontière des possibilités de production et les mouvements le long de cette frontière. Le défaut de la PTT comme mesure du changement technologique n’est pas qu’elle utilise le travail comme référence, ce qui est tout à fait approprié, mais qu’en étant une mesure partielle de la productivité, elle ignore le rôle du capital, non seulement pour rendre compte du changement technologique, mais, de façon encore plus grave, dans la production en général. Cet article propose la productivité totale du travail (PTL) comme alternative. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-49-3-Kohli.pdf)