The summary shows quite clearly that under both NDP and Liberal governments, in the province of British Columbia, we are NOT doing well

The Centre for the Study of Living Standards released a rather technical report (http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2011-03.pdf) in April of last year.  In the summary however, it shows quite clearly that under both NDP and Liberal governments in the province of British Columbia, we are NOT doing well.

The key observations of this analysis are:

There was wide variation in labour productivity growth rates across provinces. Newfoundland had the highest labour productivity growth rate (4.8 per cent per year), followed by Manitoba (2.1 per cent), Saskatchewan (2.1 per cent), Nova Scotia (1.9 per cent), New Brunswick (1.8 percent) and Quebec (1.8 per cent).  Alberta (1.0 per cent) had the lowest growth rate in the country, and British Columbia (1.2 per cent), Prince Edward Island (1.6 per cent) and Ontario (1.7 per cent) also experienced a lower growth rate than the national growth rate.

Capital intensity growth was the main contributor to labour productivity growth nationally and in six of the ten provinces.  Capital intensity made its largest contribution to labour productivity growth in Alberta (2.43 per cent per year), followed by Saskatchewan (1.60 per cent per year), Prince Edward Island (1.42 per cent per year), New Brunswick (1.13 per cent per year) and Manitoba (1.12 per cent per year).  The lowest capital intensity growth rate was attained by Newfoundland (0.39 per cent per year), followed by Quebec (0.54 per cent), Ontario (0.56 per cent), British Columbia (0.62 per cent) and Nova Scotia (0.64 per cent).

In four of the ten provinces, multifactor productivity was the largest contributor to labour productivity growth.  The highest multifactor productivity growth rate by far was enjoyed by Newfoundland (4.14 per cent per year), followed by Nova Scotia (1.12 per cent), Quebec (0.94 per cent), Ontario (0.82 per cent), Manitoba (0.62 per cent), and British Columbia (0.48 percent).  Four provinces experienced multifactor productivity growth lower than the national average; Alberta had the lowest growth (down 1.58 per cent per year), followed by Prince Edward Island (down 0.18 per cent), Saskatchewan (up 0.11 per cent) and New Brunswick (up 0.37 per cent).

The absolute contribution of labour quality growth to labour productivity growth was highest in Saskatchewan (0.37 per cent per year), followed by Prince Edward Island (0.35 per cent), Manitoba (0.35 per cent) and Ontario (0.32 per cent).  There were six provinces that experienced labour quality contributions to labour productivity growth below the national average; British Columbia (0.08 per cent) had the lowest contribution by far, followed by Nova Scotia (0.15 per cent), Alberta (0.23 per cent), New Brunswick (0.26 per cent), Quebec (0.27 percent) and Newfoundland (0.27 per cent).

An Analysis of British Columbia’s Productivity (1997-2007) begins at page 135 of this report.

NOTE:
The Centre for the Study of Living Standards is a non-profit, national, independent organization that seeks to contribute to a better understanding of trends in and determinants of productivity, living standards and economic and social well-being through research