Labor productivity per worker has been growing steadily, albeit at a moderate pace, and this trend has been firmly taking hold despite such significant events as the Lehman shock and the Great East Japan Earthquake (Chart 7). Looking at a breakdown by industry, labor productivity in the nonmanufacturing sector has been exhibiting higher growth in the past couple of years (Chart 8).
The level of labor productivity in the nonmanufacturing sector is still lower than that in the manufacturing sector. In addition, it remains difficult to increase value-added in some segments of the nonmanufacturing sector, due in part to various regulations.