IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sls/ipmsls/v28y20154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employment and Productivity: Exploring the Trade-off

Author

Listed:
  • Jianmin Tang

Abstract

The prospect of a trade-off between employment growth and productivity growth may create uncertainty among policy makers who strive to create jobs, and at the same time, seek to improve productivity. This article re-visits the issue. It shows that employment growth may be negatively correlated with productivity growth at the industry level. But this is not a trade-off. It is an outcome of market forces in reallocating production resources to rebalance changes in demand and supply conditions of different industries within an economy. At the aggregate level, employment growth may also be negatively correlated with labour productivity growth through its negative influence on capital intensity and labour quality. But, after controlling for those input factors, this article finds that employment growth does not negatively affect multifactor productivity growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianmin Tang, 2015. "Employment and Productivity: Exploring the Trade-off," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 28, pages 63-80, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:28:y:2015:4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/ipm/28/tang.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John R. Baldwin & Wulong Gu & Beiling Yan, 2013. "Export Growth, Capacity Utilization, and Productivity Growth: Evidence from the Canadian Manufacturing Plants," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59(4), pages 665-688, December.
    2. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
    3. Dale W. Jorgenson, 2012. "The World KLEMS Initiative," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 24, pages 5-19, Fall.
    4. William Scarth, 2005. "Fiscal Policy Can Raise Both Employment and Productivity," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 11, pages 39-46, Fall.
    5. Unido, 2012. "World Statistics on Mining and Utilities," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15007.
    6. Gu, Wulong & Wang, Weimin, 2013. "Productivity Growth and Capacity Utilization," Economic Analysis (EA) Research Paper Series 2013085e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    7. Jiang Li & Larry Shute & Jianmin Tang, 2013. "Multifactor Productivity Growwth Estimation in Canada and the United States: Do Different Methodologies Matter?," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 26, pages 36-62, Fall.
    8. Jianmin Tang, 2014. "Are small or large producers driving the Canada-U.S. labour productivity gap? Recent evidence from manufacturing," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 47(2), pages 517-539, May.
    9. Mary O'Mahony & Marcel P. Timmer, 2009. "Output, Input and Productivity Measures at the Industry Level: The EU KLEMS Database," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(538), pages 374-403, June.
    10. Kerstin Enflo, 2010. "Productivity and employment—Is there a trade-off? Comparing Western European regions and American states 1950–2000," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2), pages 401-421, October.
    11. Oecd, 2012. "How Does Class Size Vary Around the World?," Education Indicators in Focus 9, OECD Publishing.
    12. Andrea De Michelis & Marcello Estevão & Beth Anne Wilson, 2013. "Productivity or Employment: Is It a Choice?," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 25, pages 41-60, Spring.
    13. Hervé Boulhol & Laure Turner, 2009. "Employment-Productivity Trade-off and Labour Composition," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 698, OECD Publishing.
    14. Gordon, Robert J, 1995. "Is There a Trade-off between Unemployment and Productivity Growth?," CEPR Discussion Papers 1159, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Olivier Blanchard, 2004. "The Economic Future of Europe," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 3-26, Fall.
    16. ., 2012. "Economic geography and the world system," Chapters, in: A World in Emergence, chapter 4, pages 47-63, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. ., 2012. "Brave new world?," Chapters, in: A World in Emergence, chapter 11, pages 175-181, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Helliwell, John & Layard, Richard & Sachs, Jeffrey, 2012. "World happiness report," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 47487, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Sheelan Misra, 2012. "Student Mobility Across the World and India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 13(3), pages 465-480, October.
    20. Freeman, Richard B, 1988. "Evaluating the European View that the United States Has No Unemployment Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 294-299, May.
    21. Griliches, Zvi & Regev, Haim, 1995. "Firm productivity in Israeli industry 1979-1988," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 175-203, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paul Conway, 2016. "Achieving New Zealand's productivity potential," Working Papers 2016/01, New Zealand Productivity Commission.
    2. Luis A. Gil-Alana & Marinko Skare, 2018. "Testing the great decoupling: a long memory approach," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 801-820, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wulong Gu, 2018. "Accounting for Slower Productivity Growth in the Canadian Business Sector after 2000: The Role of Capital Measurement Issues," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 34, pages 21-39, Spring.
    2. Marcel P. Timmer & Robert Inklaar & Mary O'Mahony & Bart van Ark, 2011. "Productivity and Economic Growth in Europe: A Comparative Industry Perspective," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 21, pages 3-23, Spring.
    3. Halmai, Péter, 2015. "Az európai növekedési potenciál eróziója és válsága [Erosion and crisis in European growth potential]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 379-414.
    4. Tang, Jianmin & Wang, Weimin, 2020. "Technological frontier, technical efficiency and the post-2000 productivity slowdown in Canada," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 12-25.
    5. Bart van Ark & Mary O’Mahony & Marcel P. Timmer, 2012. "Europe’s Productivity Performance in Comparative Perspective: Trends, Causes and Recent Developments," Chapters, in: Matilde Mas & Robert Stehrer (ed.), Industrial Productivity in Europe, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Nicholas Bloom & Luis Garicano & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2014. "The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 2859-2885, December.
    7. Nicholas Bloom & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2012. "Americans Do IT Better: US Multinationals and the Productivity Miracle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 167-201, February.
    8. Crafts, Nicholas & O’Rourke, Kevin Hjortshøj, 2014. "Twentieth Century Growth*This research has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement no. 249546.," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 263-346, Elsevier.
    9. Cecilia Jona-Lasinio & Valentina Meliciana, 2019. "Global Value Chains and Productivity Growth: Does Intangible Capital Matter?," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 36, pages 53-78, Spring.
    10. Adam Pilny & Felix Roesel, 2020. "Are Doctors Better Health Ministers?," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(4), pages 498-532.
    11. Eijffinger, S.C.W. & Rossi, A., 2006. "Structural Reforms and Growth : Product and Labor Market Deregulations," Discussion Paper 2006-112, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    12. Amit K. Khandelwal & Peter K. Schott & Shang-Jin Wei, 2013. "Trade Liberalization and Embedded Institutional Reform: Evidence from Chinese Exporters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2169-2195, October.
    13. Dan Corry & Anna Valero & John Van Reenen, 2011. "UK Economic Performance Since 1997: Growth, Productivity and Jobs," CEP Reports 24, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Lu, Juan & Li, He, 2022. "Can high-speed rail improve enterprise capacity utilization? A perspective of supply side and demand side," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 152-163.
    15. Crafts, Nicholas, 2012. "British relative economic decline revisited: The role of competition," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 17-29.
    16. John R. Baldwin & Michael Willox, 2016. "The Industry Origins of Canada's Weaker Labour Productivity Performance and the Role of Structural Adjustment in the Post-2000 Period," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 31, pages 19-36, Fall.
    17. Émilien Gouin‐Bonenfant, 2022. "Productivity Dispersion, Between‐Firm Competition, and the Labor Share," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(6), pages 2755-2793, November.
    18. Heyman, Fredrik & Norbäck, Pehr-Johan & Persson, Lars, 2015. "The Turnaround of Swedish Industry: Reforms, Firm Diversity and Job and Productivity Dynamics," Working Paper Series 1079, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    19. Roth, Felix & Sen, Ali, 2021. "Intangible Capital and Labor Productivity Growth: Revisiting the Evidence," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 10, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    20. Roth, Felix, 2022. "Intangible Capital and Labor Productivity Growth – Revisiting the Evidence: An Update," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 11, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment; Productivity; Employment Growth; Trade-Off; Capital Intensity; Labour Quality; Multifactor Productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:28:y:2015:4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CSLS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cslssca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.