The world today continues to feel the effects of the economic downturn seven years after the start of the crisis. In 2010, strong productivity growth signalled the start of a global recovery, however the pace of recovery has been unusually weak and labour productivity growth in the OECD area remains below pre-crisis levels. The failure to achieve a stronger cyclical upswing has had very real costs in terms of foregone employment, stagnant living standards in advanced economies, less vigorous development in some emerging economies, and rising inequality nearly everywhere (OECD, 2015a). The BRIICS (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, Indonesia, the People’s Republic of China and South Africa) economies were affected by the global slowdown to a lesser extent, with productivity growing at over 6% in 2009-14, compared to 1% in the OECD area. In China, GDP per employee grew at around 9% a year, compared to the 11% annual growth enjoyed in 2002-07.