Comparing productivity at the sectoral level requires estimates of relatives prices at the sectoral level. The 2023 edition of the Productivity Level Database provides the most comprehensive GGDC dataset to date, covering 84 countries and 12 sectors across 3 years.

Sectoral prices are not readily available, as the official data on cross-country relative prices from ICP measures prices of final expenditure (consumption, investment). For this database, we draw on data from the three most recent ICP rounds, for 2005, 2011 and 2017, and a wide variety of additional sources to estimate prices for sectoral output, intermediate inputs and value added. Combined with data on value added and employment (relying in part on the Economic Transformation Database), this provides insights on relative labour productivity levels.

The construction of the dataset is described in more detail in a new research paper. There we also analyse sectoral total factor productivity differences across countries and find that aggregate productivity differences can be traced to the traded sector as productivity in the non-traded sector does not vary systematically with the level of GDP per worker.