Canada's economy has a big productivity problem. Here's how to fix it, according to RBC

Canada’s productivity problem has been decades in the making, but there are a number of easy steps that policymakers could take to start reversing the trend and improve prosperity for the economy, according to economist Nathan Janzen at RBC.

That’s according to Nathan Janzen, assistant chief economist with RBC, who spoke with BNN Bloomberg recently about his recently published report on how best to solve the problem that policymakers say is perhaps the biggest thing holding back Canada’s economy and standard of living.

Canada has lagged behind the U.S. on this metric since at least the 1980s, but as things stand today Canada’s economy is about 30 per cent less productive than its southern neighbour. That works out to about $20,000 per worker and it’s trending in the wrong direction, he said.

"We haven’t been seeing the same growth in efficiency and the way we use hours worked in Canada versus other economies particularly relative to the U.S. and that is having significant consequences," Janzen said.