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United States GDP per capita has exceeded the average of the upper half of OECD countries by 10% or more over the past few decades. Per capita output has begun to recover thanks to employment growth offsetting disappointing productivity growth. Income inequality remains higher than the OECD average, but has been declining recently. Greenhouse gas emissions remain among the highest compared to other OECD countries. Significant progress was made on reforming corporate income taxation in 2017. On other priorities progress has been more modest. Public infrastructure provision is insufficient and is contributing to congestion, urban sprawl, and environmental degradation, making actions to maintain existing and build new infrastructure desirable. Sizeable segments of the population lack opportunities to acquire and maintain skills valued by employers and find employment. These gaps could be bridged by measures to improve educational outcomes, facilitate retraining, and enhance employment flexibility for parents of young children. The US devotes more resources on healthcare than other OECD countries, with little apparent gain in health outcomes. Enhancing healthcare sector efficiency could put resources to better use. The burden of regulation, occupational licensing and zoning hinders the business environment and creates barriers to workers moving jobs. Growth performance, inequality and environment indicators: United States A. Growth Average annual growth rates (%) GDP per capita Labour utilisation of which: Labour force participation rate Employment rate1 Employment coefficient2 Labour productivity of which: Capital deepening Total factor productivity Dependency ratio
2002-08 1.5 -0.4 -0.1 0.0 -0.3 1.7 0.6 1.1 0.2
2012-18 1.6 0.8 -0.1 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.1
Level
Annual variation (percentage points)
2016 39.1 (31.7)*
2013-16 -0.2 (0)*
B. Inequality and environment
Gini coefficient3 Share of national disposable income held by the poorest 20%
GHG emissions per capita4 (tonnes of CO2 equivalent) GHG emissions per unit of GDP4 (kg of CO2 equivalent per USD) Share in global GHG emissions4 (%) * OECD simple average (weighted average for emissions data)
5.3 (7.6)*
0 (0)*
2016 17.9 (10.9)* 0.3 (0.3)* 12.9
Average of levels 2010-16 18.8 (11.3)* 0.4 (0.3)* 13.6
C. GDP per capita is among the highest in the OECD Per cent 20
Gap to the upper half of OECD countries5
GDP per capita
GDP per hour worked
15
10
5
0
Source: Panel A: OECD, Economic Outlook Database; Panel B: OECD, Income Distribution and National Accounts Databases; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Database and International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy Database; Panel C: OECD, National Accounts and Productivity Databases. StatLink 2 https://doi.org/10.1787/888933955465