Output and Productivity Comparisons of the Wholesale and Retail Trade Sector: US and Australia, 1991 to 1999

Abstract

Australia’s value added contribution of the Wholesale and Retail trade has strengthened against sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing. At 1997-98 prices, its value added contribution to GDP during the 1990s was around 10-11%. Agriculture was 3% and mining 7-8%. Manufacturing’s value added contribution fell from 15% to 12%. While performance at the domestic level may seem significant, there is still need to compare this performance with other countries. Hence, this paper will examine the output and productivity performance of the Australian Wholesale and Retail Trade sector with the leading economy, the United States, from 1991 to 1999. The aim of the paper is two-fold. First, the paper is a pioneer in a series which compares the performance of various industries within the service sector between the US and Australia. Second, it introduces a method for derivation of appropriate currency converters or purchasing power parities (PPPs) for quantification of output and productivity at various disaggregated levels. This method is based on the industry-of-origin approach as refined by the International Comparisons of Output and Productivity (ICOP) project based at the University of Groningen.