Can measurement error explain the weakness of productivity growth in the Canadian construction industry?

Abstract According to Statistics Canada productivity estimates, the rate of growth of real output per hour in the construction industry in Canada over the 1981-2006 period was 0.53 per cent per year, one-third of the of the business sector average. [...] Objective The objective of this study is to assess the reliability of the official Statistics Canada productivity estimates for the construction industry in light of the industry perspective that there have been significant labour productivity gains in the industry. [...] The evidence suggests that Statistics Canada is overestimating the increase in the prices of goods produced by the construction industry, because it is using deflators based on the cost of inputs instead of the price of outputs. [...] A number of studies have found significant productivity gains for many tasks in the construction industry, a result that appears inconsistent with the weak aggregate productivity gains in the sector recorded by Statistics Canada The objective of this study is to assess the reliability of the official Statistics Canada productivity estimates for the construction industry in light of the industry pe [...] Then specific issues that could potentially impact the measurement of productivity in the construction industry are examined including the underground economy, the deflation of nominal output, and the use of prework (prefabrication, modularization, and preassembly) in the industry.