Productivity and output per person
Y axis: index · Selected start quarter = 100
Real output per hourReal output per person
Both series seasonally adjusted · ABS National Accounts · June quarter 2026 edition.
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Australia · Productivity
Why productivity
matters for living standards.
Producing more from each hour can give us more choices: more goods and services, higher incomes, or more time. How those gains are shared matters too.
June quarter 2026 edition · Adjustment basis labelled on each chart · New releases are checked before updating
Productivity and output per person
Compare production per hour worked with production per resident. Both start at 100 in the same quarter.
See the figures behind this chart
How to read this comparison
Output per person also depends on how many people work and how many hours they work. It can rise through more employment or longer hours even when output per hour is unchanged.
Both lines measure average production, not typical household income or how evenly gains are shared. Their divergence is not a complete explanation of its causes.
Shared history starts in September quarter 1978. GDP per person has earlier history on the Economic growth page.
Productivity and real wages
Compare output per hour with the purchasing power of wage rates. Both start at 100 in the same quarter.
Productivity and real wages
Y axis: index · Selected start quarter = 100
Real output per hourReal wage rates
Output per hour: seasonally adjusted · Real wage rates: original WPI divided by original CPI · Both through June quarter 2026.
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See the figures behind this chart
How to read this comparison
Real wage rates use the Wage Price Index for a fixed basket of jobs, adjusted by consumer prices. This is an OD-derived series, not an ABS-published real-wage index. It is not average earnings, take-home pay or household income.
Productivity adjusts production using output prices; real wages adjust wage rates using consumer prices. Different price movements can separate the lines. Productivity is seasonally adjusted; the wage-rate comparison uses original quarterly WPI and CPI, so seasonal movements remain in that line.
The chart does not show an exact entitlement to a wage rise, or a direct measure of the division of income between wages and profits. Read the longer history alongside the explanation below. Shared history starts in September quarter 1997.
The same time. More possibilities.
Imagine a bakery that makes 100 loaves in ten hours. That is ten loaves per hour. If better equipment lets it make 120 loaves in the same time, output per hour rises by 20%.
The example holds the type and quality of the bread constant. In the real economy, statisticians adjust production for price changes and try to account for changing products and quality.
What could happen to the gain?
It could support better pay, lower prices, higher profits, more investment, or less time spent producing the same amount. The productivity figure alone does not tell us which occurred.
Higher productivity can support higher real incomes.
Over time, producing more per hour expands what the economy can afford. But an increase in average productivity does not guarantee a matching pay rise for every worker. Competition, bargaining, profits, taxes and the distribution of gains affect the outcome.
Real wages are wages adjusted for consumer prices. Labour productivity adjusts output for the prices of production. These measure different things, so they should not be treated as interchangeable.
Output per hour is different from output per person.
GDP per person also depends on how many people work and how many hours they work. More employment or longer hours can lift output per person even if output per hour is unchanged.
Useful. But never the whole scorecard.
These figures do not capture every unpaid contribution, environmental effect, service-quality change or aspect of wellbeing. More measured output is not automatically the best outcome in every situation.
Labour productivity also reflects the tools, infrastructure, skills and organisation around workers. It does not isolate technology alone. Multifactor productivity is a separate measure that considers several inputs; it is not plotted here.
Productivity sources and methods · June quarter 2026 edition