Measuring Productivity

Measuring Productivity

Measuring Productivity

The main objectives of this manual are to:
• Provide an accessible guide to productivity measurement for those involved in constructing
and interpreting productivity measures, in particular statistical offices, other relevant
government agencies and productivity researchers.
• Improve international harmonisation: although there is no strong prescriptive element in the
manual, it contains indications about desirable properties of productivity measures. Hence,
when countries have a choice in constructing new measures or developing a system of
indicators, the manual may provide guidance.
• Identify desirable characteristics of productivity measures by reference to a coherent
framework that links economic theory and index number theory. Desirable properties have to
be assessed against the reality of data availability or the costs of producing statistics. Broad
trends can often be discerned with tools that do not live up to full theoretical standards as
long as they are interpreted with the necessary caution. However, the user has to be aware of
simplifications that occur in the practice of productivity measurement.