From 1974 to 1995, labor productivity advanced at about an annual rate of 1½%. Productivity then accelerated to a rate of about 2½% in the second half of the 1990s.
This acceleration appears to have been spread out over the second half of the 1990s, so that the average rate over that period understates the rate of productivity growth at the end of the period. 1  BIS Review 48/2000  Productivity typically grows faster than its longer-term trend when GDP growth is rising and falls below trend when GDP decelerates.