New Economist points us to a recent Bank of International Settlements study on productivity in OECD countries.

The good news: Measures of productivity growth rates in Canada during 1995-2003 were about 0.5% higher than in 1986-1995.

The disquieting comparison: The US improved its productivity growth rates by at least 1%.

The puzzle: Notwithstanding the higher US productivity growth rates, Canadian GDP per capita went from 80% of US GDP per capita in 1995 to 86% in 2003.

We’re clearly not working smarter, so I guess we must be working harder.