A better understanding of productivity evolution requires a specially adapted statistical tool that allows an industry-based analysis of the fundamental trends of the economy. Therefore, the Federal Planning Bureau is working with other European institutions on a project, financed by the European Union’s sixth framework programme for research, to develop the EUKLEMS database.
The database EUKLEMS contains the variables for analysing the evolution of productivity at the industry-level from 1970 to 2007, for all European countries and for the US. The last update of the database was realised in November 2009 and is limited to 32 industries, instead of 72 industries in the previous updates. The available variables concern production, value added, intermediary consumption, employment and the skill level of the labour force, capital with a distinction between capital linked to information and communication technologies (ICT) or not. The growth contributions of both the different production factors and total factor productivity are also available.
The last data for Belgium cover 28 industries on the period 1970-2007 and are only available, for the moment, on the website www.plan.be. They are based on the national accounts of September 2009.
Data for other European countries, as well as for the US, EU10, EU15, EU25 and the euro zone can be downloaded free of charge from the EUKLEMS website (www.euklems.net). All files are Excel files. These data were constructed according to a methodology which is harmonised on an international level and specified in a manual also downloadable on the website (PDF file).
All series derived from this database must be referred to as: "EU KLEMS Database, November 2009, http://www.euklems.net"
Productivity and long term growth
