Recent trends on productivity and post-crisis labour income

Eight years after the global financial crisis, GDP per capita remains at pre-crisis levels, or even below, in many economies. In some European economies, including Finland, Italy and Spain, GDP per capita in 2015 (in real terms) was around 10% lower than the level achieved in 2007. Indeed, among OECD countries only a handful, chiefly “catch-up” countries – Chile, Poland, Korea and Turkey – saw a significant improvement on pre-crisis levels and although emerging economies fared much better, growth rates in most have slowed considerably in the post-crisis period. The overall picture points to slowing rates of growth in most countries, compared to the pre-crisis period, and with it fears of many being trapped in a low-growth environment (), as productivity growth continues its long-term decline in most economies ().