Some New International Comparisons of Productivity Performance at the Sectoral Level

Summary We present several new measures of gross-output-based total factor productivity (TFP) at the sectoral level for manufacturing industries in the G-7 economies. We calculate measures of both TFP growth and comparative levels. These are obtained by combining conventional Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development sectoral data on labour and capital inputs with data on intermediate inputs from national input–output tables. Additionally, we derive cyclically corrected measures of TFP growth. Our evidence shows that the considerable gap in TFP between the USA and other G-7 economies is closing but remains significant.