PC productivity insights

Australia's productivity performance has a major influence on real per capita income growth. Productivity growth improves current living standards as well as the nation's capacity to address future challenges such as our ageing population and global economic shocks.

Despite the best efforts of statisticians and economists, the measurement and interpretation of productivity remains a challenge. The insights seek to demystify this commonly used, but easily misunderstood, concept.

Future editions of productivity insights will unpack the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) productivity statistics, and report on the findings of the Commission's most recent research into productivity issues.

All Bulletins

Annual productivity bulletin 2025

This bulletin decomposes multifactor productivity into a frontier (the highest level of multifactor productivity achievable) and inefficiency (how far actual multifactor productivity is from the frontier).

Revisions to quarterly labour productivity growth

This paper considers revisions to quarterly productivity growth estimates and finds that measured labour productivity does not approach a ‘true’ estimate; rather, the figure is consistently changing. In light of this, it discusses two possible…

Productivity growth and wages – a forensic look

This paper examines the evidence on whether wages have kept up with labour productivity in the past few decades.

Things you can’t drop on your feet: an overview of Australia’s services sector productivity

This paper sheds light on the evolution of the services sector in Australia, busts some common misconceptions about services, and highlights the challenges associated with services productivity measurement and growth.