International comparisons of GDP per capita and per employed person

This report represents an update of comparative GDP per capita and per employed person data produced annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Separate historical tables for GDP per hour worked are included for the first time. With this year's edition, Singapore becomes the seventeenth country included in these comparisons. The main source of Singapore's data is Statistics Singapore. The data comply with international standards of national accounts. An eighteenth country, Ireland, has been partially included for illustrative purposes.1 Section I discusses the concepts, sources, and methods. Section II presents charts with level data for 2008 on prosperity, productivity, and hours worked. Section III provides historical time series and growth rates. 2 Charts 1 and 2 (page 9) show that comparisons of well-being may be affected by taking into account a country's net income receipts from abroad. Instead of GDP per capita, chart 2 shows GNI per capita. In addition, the section also presents historical level data for population-employment ratios and relative prices for 2005. Prosperity and productivity Gross domestic product is the value of all market and some non-market goods and services produced within a country. As such, it is the most comprehensive measure of a country's economic output that is generally estimated by statistical agencies. GDP per capita may therefore be viewed as a rough indicator of a nation's prosperity, while GDP per employed person and GDP per hour worked can provide a general picture of a country's productivity. These indicators are only approximations. National prosperity consists of many things that are not included in its GDP and some items included may not contribute to a country's well-being. In addition, some countries experience significant in- and out-flows of income because of foreign investment, which may affect a country's prosperity. For productivity comparisons, using the number of persons employed as a measure of labor input ignores differences in the number of hours worked and the skill levels of different people. Nevertheless, GDP, GDP per capita, and GDP per employed person, as presented here, are commonly used to compare the economic performance of different countries. 3 1 BLS is investigating the feasibility of full inclusion of data for Ireland in subsequent reports. 2 The charts that use GDP data have been converted with PPPs for 2008, which are the latest available PPPs. The tables convert output with PPPs for 2005, which are the latest available benchmarks for PPP data. 3 Many countries now publish estimates of GNI as part of their national accounts. However, GNI expressed in real terms are not consistently available as long time series. GNI is obtained by adjusting GDP for net income flows from abroad. For some countries, this adjustment has a significant impact on the data. For example, for Ireland GNI per capita is 17.9 percent smaller than GDP per capita. As a result, Ireland's ranking changes from third place using GDP per capita to ninth place using GNI per capita in 2008.download