 In recent months, the subject of productivity has become a highly discussed topic because it has been touted as one of the greatest reasons for the slow growth in employment following the most recent economic slowdown. The 2001 slowdown was unique in that productivity actually increased as businesses required more work out of each of their employees. By definition, productivity is the amount of goods and services produced for each hour worked. It is commonly used as one of the indicators of regional economic performance along with per capita income, which is a standard of living measure. Productivity can vary greatly between the industries present in a region due to differences in the efficiencies, innovation, and the experience of the businesses and employees involved in each industry. It is well documented that the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is a very productive region. According to the United States Conference of Mayors, the gross metropolitan product (GMP) of the St. Louis MSA (MO-IL) accounted for forty-one percent of the Missouri gross state product (GSP) in the year 2001. It also ranked twenty-two out of the one-hundred top U.S. metropolitan economies, fifty-two when compared to both GMPs and GSPs (147 total), and fifty-nine when compared to both GMPs and gross national products (172 total).
In this comparison, the productivity of sectors is compared across counties to determine which counties have a comparative advantage in producing certain products. The productivity data was created using 2001 estimates created by MIG, Inc. and distributed in their IMPLAN database for industry total value added and employment for each county. Employment estimates from the IMPLAN database include both full-time and part-time workers; therefore, it was necessary to convert those estimates to full-time equivalents using the Full-Time Equivalent Employees report from the Survey of Current Business published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). It was then assumed that each full-time equivalent employee worked forty hours a week for fifty-two weeks a year. To create a figure for productivity, the industry total value added was then divided by the industry’s number of working hours to yield a productivity figure of output per hour. |
