29. And one more article making a fundamental error

Statistics Canada revised data on labour productivity in the business sector to bring them in line with international standards.The revised data show that Canadian productivity was lower than previously thought.

How much? It is difficult to say since the author confuses levels with rates of growth. Read the following fragment:

"The result means business sector labour productivity was an average of 0.1 per cent lower per year from 1981 to the second quarter of this year."

Big deal, you think. 0.1%, or 1/1000 lower is not much. But in the next sentence he writes: "The largest impact was in the years 1981 to 1990, when productivity growth was revised down by 0.3 per cent per year – to 1 per cent from 1.3 per cent."

So he really means productivity growth. But you would not guess it from what he writes.

You should read the article and find other places where the writing is vague.

Note that the Statistics Canada report is precise in its language: "The combined result of the revisions to gross domestic product (GDP) and hours worked was an average 0.1 percentage point decrease in the annual growth rate of labour productivity in the business sector over the three decades between 1981 and 2011."

How big is the overall correction to productivity? Not very big. (Click on description for chart 4 to see actual data). According to original data, between Q1 1981 and Q2 2012 productivity increased by 49.27%; according to new data, by 48.32%.

So the article is not only misleading but also is about a small change.