IWS Documented News INTERNATIONAL

IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies                 Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations          Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor                  Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016                      Director, IWS News Bureau
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OECD

STI WORKING PAPER 2005/3
Statistical Analysis of Science, Technology and Industry
THE SERVICE ECONOMY IN OECD COUNTRIES
Anita Wölfl
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2005doc.nsf/43bb6130e5e86e5fc12569fa005d004c/6583b6e114e5c0ccc1256fa50050c7e1/$FILE/JT00178454.PDF
[full-text, 81 pages]

Abstract
Improving the performance of the services sector is important to enhance aggregate economic growth. This is primarily since the service sector has become the quantitatively most important sector in all OECD
economies. The growing role of services is not only the result of a resource re-allocation towards services, as the sector with low productivity growth. It is also related to demand side factors, such as a high income
elasticity of demand for some services, demographic developments, the provision of certain services as public goods, and the growing role of services as providers of  intermediate inputs. The empirical evidence
points to several areas where employment and productivity growth in services is held back. For example, labour-intensive production in many services industries may reduce the potential for productivity growth.
Innovation is held back by obstacles that are particularly relevant for services industries. The evidence also shows that the regulatory environment for services in product and labour markets may affect the scope for
employment and productivity growth. However, policy should not necessarily look at services separately from manufacturing industries. In contrast, several services industries show characteristics and problems
similar to those of manufacturing industries and the blurring of the two sectors is becoming more and more prevalent. Moreover, addressing some of the problems faced by services may also improve the performance of other industries, since services provide key intermediate inputs to such sectors.
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Stuart Basefsky                 *
Director, IWS News Bureau               *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School                      *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor            *
New York, NY 10016                      *
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Telephone: (607) 255-2703               *
Fax: (607) 255-9641                     *
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# posted by SBasefsky : 12:35 PM