--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-1/the-new-economy-and-trend-productivity-growth-in-canada/" title: "The New Economy and Trend Productivity Growth in Canada" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-10T09:12:16+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:38:01+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Fall 2000" ipm_keyword: - "business sector" - "Canada" - "high-tech sector" - "information technology" - "labour productivity" - "new economy" - "trend productivity" - "United States" ipm_research_theme: - "Productivity trends and comparisons" ipm_country_focus: - "Canada" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # The New Economy and Trend Productivity Growth in Canada Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-1/the-new-economy-and-trend-productivity-growth-in-canada/ # The New Economy and Trend Productivity Growth in Canada [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-1-1-Sharpe-Gharani.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Sharpe, Andrew, and Leila Gharani. 2000. “The New Economy and Trend Productivity Growth in Canada.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 1 (Fall 2000): 3–5. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-1/the-new-economy-and-trend-productivity-growth-in-canada/ ## Authors: - Andrew Sharpe Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) - Leila Gharani Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## IPM Issue 1 Fall 2000 pp. 3–5 ## 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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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/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn This article examines why trend labour productivity growth in Canada stagnated in the second half of the 1990s, in contrast to a sharp acceleration in the United States. It identifies five factors behind the U.S. productivity revival — a large high-tech sector, strong IT investment, low unemployment, Federal Reserve monetary policy, and statistical methodological changes — none of which applied equally in Canada. Despite lagging the U.S., the article argues the balance of evidence suggests Canada will experience an acceleration in trend productivity growth to the 2–2.5 per cent range over the following decade, driven by a reversal of the factors that held back productivity growth. Cet article examine pourquoi la croissance tendancielle de la productivité du travail au Canada a stagné dans la deuxième moitié des années 1990, contrairement à une forte accélération aux États-Unis. Il cerne cinq facteurs à l’origine de la reprise de productivité américaine — un vaste secteur de haute technologie, un investissement élevé en TI, un faible taux de chômage, la politique monétaire de la Réserve fédérale et des modifications méthodologiques statistiques — aucun desquels ne s’est appliqué de façon équivalente au Canada. Malgré ce retard par rapport aux États-Unis, l’article soutient que la prépondérance des données probantes suggère que le Canada connaîtra une accélération de la croissance tendancielle de la productivité dans la fourchette de 2 à 2,5 % au cours de la décennie suivante, portée par un renversement des facteurs ayant freiné la croissance de la productivité. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-1-1-Sharpe-Gharani.pdf)