Rethinking Canada's 'productivity problem'

Jasmine Ramze Rezaee wants you to think twice when Ottawa says we have a productivity problem.

Prime Minister Mark Carney links weak productivity to rising costs.

“Our long-standing weak productivity is making life less affordable for Canadians,” Carney said in a speech in May . “It’s beginning to strain our government finances and starting to put at risk the social programs on which Canadians rely.”

The metric — calculated as real GDP growth per hour worked — is one way to measure the efficiency of Canadian workers. As Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers explained in a speech last year, strong productivity means faster GDP growth and higher incomes.

It also leads to a stronger tax base — meaning more money with which the government can fund social programs and servi