Laurence Boone - Welcome speech - GFP Conference, Venice, 8th July 2021

Welcome to the 2021 Annual Conference of the Global Forum on Productivity joint with the Italian G20 Presidency Laurence Boone Chief Economist of the OECD Venice, Italy | 8th July 2021

Annual GFP Conferences since 2015

Challenges to long-term growth beyond COVID-19 • `Hope is gradually becoming reality’ in many countries

GDP in OECD countries projected to remain at lower growth path post-COVID-19

• But the recovery is uneven across countries…

• … and may leave many economies on a permanently lower growth path…

• …adding to already low productivity growth due to long-standing challenges Crucial to boost productivity growth!

Source: OECD Economic Outlook (2021)

OECD GFP research contributes to uncovering the drivers of productivity • Productivity slowdown coincides with polarisation of the business environment

Large potential for productivity gains through catch-up to domestic frontier

• To learn how to boost aggregate productivity we must look at differences in firm performance at the micro-level • OECD and the GFP are at the forefront of collecting and analysing cross-country microdata to uncover drivers of productivity

Source: OECD GFP calculations for the Human Side of Productivity

Productivity builds on people GFP research project “Human Side of Productivity”:

Human factors are crucial to explain productivity gaps to the frontier

• New cross-country dataset with detailed info on firms and their workers • Uncovering the role of the workforce composition (skills, managers, diversity) for firm productivity • Differences in workforce composition explain around 1/3 of productivity gap between medium and top performer

Source: OECD GFP calculations for the Human Side of Productivity

Widespread telework as the “new normal” GFP survey on telework and productivity:

Telework expected to remain permanently high after COVID-19

• COVID-19 may catalyse permanent adoption of widespread telework • New evidence from GFP survey from managers and workers about experiences and expectations with telework Source: OECD GFP calculations based on online survey in cooperation with TUAC and BIAC

Widespread telework as the “new normal” GFP survey on telework and productivity:

Most managers expect future telework to improve performance

• COVID-19 may catalyse permanent adoption of widespread telework • New evidence from GFP survey from managers and workers about experiences and expectations with telework • Telework stands to raise productivity and welfare but challenges must be met

Source: OECD GFP calculations based on online survey in cooperation with TUAC and BIAC

Future GFP research – a tale of two inputs Building on the Human Side of Productivity to explore role of differences in firm performance for productivity growth:

Investing in people

Investing in capital

Getting the right employees & implications for allocation

Building up tangible and intangible capital in uncertain times

Complementarities: investing in people and capital together

Thank you

oe.cd/gfp

Productivity@OECD.org