GDP per person employed (constant 2011 PPP $) - South America

Definition: GDP per person employed is gross domestic product (GDP) divided by total employment in the economy. Purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP is GDP converted to 2011 constant international dollars using PPP rates. An international dollar has the same purchasing power over GDP that a U.S. dollar has in the United States.

Description: The map below shows how GDP per person employed (constant 2011 PPP $) varies by country in South America. The shade of the country corresponds to the magnitude of the indicator. The darker the shade, the higher the value. The country with the highest value in the region is Guyana, with a value of 59,858.58. The country with the lowest value in the region is Bolivia, with a value of 18,933.36.

Source: International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT database. Data retrieved in September 2019.

See also: Country ranking, Time series comparison

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Development Relevance: Labor productivity is used to assess a country's economic ability to create and sustain decent employment opportunities with fair and equitable remuneration. Productivity increases obtained through investment, trade, technological progress, or changes in work organization can increase social protection and reduce poverty, which in turn reduce vulnerable employment and working poverty. Productivity increases do not guarantee these improvements, but without them - and the economic growth they bring - improvements are highly unlikely. GDP per person employed is a key measure to monitor whether a country is on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. [SDG Indicator 8.2.1]

Limitations and Exceptions: For comparability of individual sectors labor productivity is estimated according to national accounts conventions. However, there are still significant limitations on the availability of reliable data. Information on consistent series of output in both national currencies and purchasing power parity dollars is not easily available, especially in developing countries, because the definition, coverage, and methodology are not always consistent across countries. For example, countries employ different methodologies for estimating the missing values for the nonmarket service sectors and use different definitions of the informal sector.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: GDP per person employed represents labor productivity — output per unit of labor input. To compare labor productivity levels across countries, GDP is converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates which take account of differences in relative prices between countries.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Base Period: 2011

Periodicity: Annual