New Zealand’s economy-wide labour productivity level (GDP per hour worked) is below the OECD mean. New Zealand’s labour productivity growth rate was also below the OECD mean, but similar to Australia’s from the 1980s until the onset of the global fi nancial crisis. New Zealand and Australian statistical agencies report labour productivity across a narrower set of industries called the ‘measured sector’ of the economy. Under this narrower but more accurate measure, New Zealand’s average labour productivity growth has been a little higher than that of Australia’s since 1988. New Zealand’s labour productivity refl ects its levels of capital.
