Labor productivity is considered one of the most important indicators of a country’s well-being. However, we don’t know so much about it, let’s try to figure out how it is calculated, and how things are with it in the world (data source: Total Economy Database).

劳动生产率被认为是一个国家福祉的最重要指标之一。 但是，我们对其了解不多，让我们尝试弄清楚它的计算方式以及它在世界上的状况(数据来源： Total Economic Database )。

We will find out the answer a little bit later.

我们稍后会找到答案。

Labor productivity objectively reflects the health of an economy, it is based on two indicators: the country’s GDP per capita and the proportion of the employed population. The same formula can be written in another way:

劳动生产率客观地反映了经济的健康状况，它基于两个指标：该国的人均GDP和就业人口的比例。 可以用另一种方式写相同的公式：

Let’s revise what GDP and GDP per capita are. GDP is the gross domestic product, which represents the total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country. GDP per capita shows how much gross domestic product is produced by one person on average (GDP / population). Both indicators are measured annually and for comparison purposes in the same currency — US dollars.

让我们修改一下GDP和人均GDP。 GDP是​​国内生产总值，代表一个国家生产的所有最终商品和服务的总市场价值。 人均国内生产总值显示一个人平均生产多少国内生产总值(国内生产总值/人口)。 两项指标均以美元为单位，每年进行测量，以作比较。

The charts show that a high GDP does not mean that GDP per capita will also be high. For example, China ranks first in terms of GDP and produces the largest number of goods and services in the world. But neither GDP per capita, nor its labor productivity are included in the TOP 10, they hold the 61st and the 78th places respectively, on the same level as Colombia and Brazil (which, by the way, are also in the TOP 10 countries for GDP):

图表显示，高GDP并不意味着人均GDP也很高。 例如，中国的GDP排名第一，生产的商品和服务数量居世界首位。 但是，人均GDP和劳动生产率均未列入前10名，它们分别排名第61位和第78位，与哥伦比亚和巴西处于同一水平(顺便说一下，哥伦比亚和巴西在前10名中也GDP)：

Why is this mismatch? Firstly, China is the most populous country. When allocating 25 billion GDP per 1.4 billion people, the value is several times lower than in most countries. Secondly, people work a lot there — the percentage of the employed population in 2019 was 55.6%, which is higher than the average by 10–12%. Thirdly, there are cheap or low-tech products in China.

为什么不匹配？ 首先，中国是人口最多的国家。 当以每14亿人口分配250亿美元的GDP时，其价值要比大多数国家低几倍。 其次，那里的人们工作很多— 2019年的就业人口百分比为55.6％，比平均水平高10-12％。 第三，中国有廉价或低技术含量的产品。

该国劳动生产率高的三个原因： (3 reasons for high labor productivity in the country:)

1. Low cost of the final product, but a large production volume + a low percentage of employed people. The conditions that are applicable to the Arabic countries that produce cheap oil and do not spend a lot of effort and time on it.
   最终产品的成本低，但产量大，从业人员比例低。 适用于生产廉价石油且无需花费大量精力和时间的阿拉伯国家的条件。
2. High GDP per capita + high or average percentage of employed people. This pattern is typical for the United States and most Western European countries — the entire working-age population works and produces high-value products. Qatar became an unexpected participant in this group. Its high labor productivity is ensured not by a low percentage of employed people as in other oil-producing countries, but by a higher cost of the finished product and large volumes of its production.
   人均GDP高+就业人口百分比高或平均。 这种模式在美国和大多数西欧国家都是典型的-整个工作年龄人口都在工作并生产高价值的产品。 卡塔尔成为该组的意外参与者。 它的高劳动生产率不是通过像其他产油国那样低的就业人数来确保的，而是通过成品成本较高和大量生产来保证的。
3. High GDP per capita + low percentage of employment. This situation is rare, but it is the future — there is a small proportion of the employed population which produces an expensive product.
   人均GDP高+就业率低。 这种情况很少见，但这是未来的情况-就业人口中有一小部分生产昂贵的产品。

俄国 (Russia)

We have looked at the leaders in the main economic indicators. Now we will find Russia in these ratings. In terms of GDP, Russia is ahead of many countries — the news and economic books tell us that. Indeed, in 2019, Russia was on the 6th place in the world GDP ranking (PPP). But it did not become a leader in labor productivity.

我们已经考察了主要经济指标中的领导者。 现在，我们将在这些评级中找到俄罗斯。 就GDP而言，俄罗斯领先于许多国家-新闻和经济书籍告诉我们。 确实，在2019年，俄罗斯在世界GDP排名(PPP)中排名第六。 但是它并没有成为劳动生产率的领导者。

Let’s test your intuition again.

让我们再次测试您的直觉。

We have collected all the most important macroeconomic indicators on a single dashboard.

我们在一个仪表板上收集了所有最重要的宏观经济指标。

What does the dashboard show? Since the beginning of the 1960s, labor productivity in Russia (RSFSR) had a mainly positive dynamic. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the productivity index fell sharply in Russia and the CIS countries, and it returned to the value of 1989 only by 2005. The positive dynamic of labor productivity was brought down by the crisis of 2008, but in 2010 it began to grow again and reached its maximum in 2019 ($59,900 per capita).

仪表板显示什么？ 自1960年代初以来，俄罗斯的劳动生产率(RSFSR)主要呈积极变化。 苏联解体后，俄罗斯和独联体国家的生产率指数急剧下降，到2005年才恢复到1989年的值。2008年的危机降低了劳动生产率的积极动力，但到了2010年它开始再次增长并在2019年达到最高水平(人均59,900美元)。

Labor productivity in Russia follows all changes in GDP. Where the graph line does not coincide with the tops of the bars, the second factor (the number of employed people) affects: the bars below the graph mean that % of employed people falls, the bars above the graph show that % of the working population increases.

俄罗斯的劳动生产率跟随GDP的所有变化。 如果图表线与条形图的顶部不一致，则第二个因素(受雇人数)会受到影响：图表下方的条形图表示失业人数下降，图表上方的条形图表示工作百分比人口增加。

俄罗斯与世界 (Russia and the world)

Labor productivity in Russia has never taken a leading position in the world. It raised to its highest position in the rating during the USSR period. The best result throughout all years was the 32nd place in 1968, the worst result was the 61st place in 1997 and 1998. After that, Russia has not risen above the 48th line of the rating. In 2019 Russia was ranked 55th in the world.

俄罗斯的劳动生产率从未在世界上占据领先地位。 在苏联时期，它升至该等级的最高位置。 全年最好的成绩是1968年的第32位，最差的成绩是1997年和1998年的第61位。此后，俄罗斯一直没有超过该排名的第48位。 俄罗斯在2019年排名世界第55位。

It is also interesting to see the dynamics of labor productivity in Russia against the background of the world average indicator and the average for the TOP 25 countries leading in terms of GDP. Russia has never outperformed the latter indicator.

有趣的是，在世界平均指数和在GDP方面领先的前25个国家的平均数的背景下，看到了俄罗斯劳动生产率的动态。 俄罗斯从未超越后者。

Now a few positive moments. Since 1982 Russia has exceeded the world average in terms of labor productivity. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and until 2006 it was below the average indicator again, but having caught up with it in 2007, it no longer falls below and tends to catch up with the leaders in GDP. Even the 2008 crisis did not break this positive trend.

现在一些积极的时刻。 自1982年以来，俄罗斯的劳动生产率已超过世界平均水平。 在苏联解体之后，直到2006年，它再次低于平均指标，但在2007年赶上了平均指标，它不再跌破并趋向于赶上GDP的领先者。 即使是2008年的危机也没有打破这一积极趋势。

总结一下 (Let’s sum up)

Labor productivity is an important and interesting indicator of a country’s well-being. Watching its dynamics is as fascinating as watching the dynamics of GDP.

劳动生产率是一个国家福祉的重要而有趣的指标。 观察其动态就像观察GDP的动态一样令人着迷。

The first place in the rating is a relative concept. You can always choose a scale that makes the chart look positive. You can learn how to avoid data manipulation and make clear visualizations in our analytics courses. Fill free to write to me and we’ll discuss all of your questions.

评分中的第一位是相对概念。 您始终可以选择使图表看起来更正的比例。 您可以在我们的分析课程中了解如何避免数据操纵并获得清晰的可视化效果。 请随意写信给我，我们将讨论您的所有问题。