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

The latest value for GDP per person employed (constant 2011 PPP $) in North America was 127,144 as of 2020. Over the past 29 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 127,144 in 2020 and 81,809 in 1991.

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.

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

See also:

Year Value
1991 81,809
1992 84,053
1993 85,053
1994 86,307
1995 87,039
1996 88,984
1997 90,865
1998 93,212
1999 95,942
2000 98,399
2001 99,239
2002 101,198
2003 103,677
2004 106,276
2005 108,308
2006 109,626
2007 110,973
2008 110,901
2009 111,822
2010 114,974
2011 115,922
2012 116,873
2013 117,818
2014 118,930
2015 120,563
2016 120,665
2017 121,649
2018 123,707
2019 124,636
2020 127,144

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

Classification

Topic: Labor & Social Protection Indicators

Sub-Topic: Economic activity