 |
 |
16/94 |  |
Evolution of value added by activity
While total GDP has been growing in all OECD countries in most years since 1990, that growth is not evenly spread over all the different kinds of economic activities. Some economic activities have grown faster than others and some have tended to decline in importance. A convenient way to show how the patterns of growth are changing is to divide the economy into primary, secondary and tertiary sectors – agriculture, industry and services, respectively.
Definition
Gross value added is defined as output minus intermediate consumption and equals employee compensation, net operating surplus and depreciation of capital assets. The growth rates shown here refer to volume estimates of gross value added.
Industry consists of mining and quarrying; manufacturing; production and distribution of electricity, gas and water; and construction. Services consists of retail and wholesale trade; transport and communications; real estate, finance, insurance and business services; education, health and other personal services; public administration; and defence.
Comparability
All OECD member countries except for Turkey follow the international System of National Accounts, so there is good comparability between countries as regards the definitions and coverage. However, the decline of industry and the rise of service activities are overstated to some extent because of the move in the last decade towards outsourcing of service activities that were previously carried out internally within industrial enterprises. For example, if cleaning and security services were earlier provided by employees of a manufacturing enterprise, their salaries would have formed part of value added by industry but if these services are now purchased from specialized producers, the salaries of the employees will form part of the value added of the service sector. No change in the quantity of cleaning and security services produced may have occurred.
|
Long-term trends For OECD countries as a whole, agriculture has been growing by about 1% per year since 1992, industry by 2.6% per year and services by 3% per year. Annual growth in agriculture is generally very uneven, with changes from year to year of 10% or more being quite common. Growth in industry is somewhat smoother in most countries, while year-to-year growth in services tends to be very smooth in all countries, one reason being that services include government services. The graphs show growth rates averaged over the three latest years for which data are available. Over this recent period, agriculture declined in nine countries – most pronounced in Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Finland and Greece. Industry grew in most countries, although there were declines in Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark. The service sector, however, grew in all countries with particularly sharp increases in Turkey, Greece, New Zealand and Iceland. |
Source
- OECD (2006), National Accounts of OECD Countries, OECD, Paris.
Further information
Analytical publications
- OECD (2007), OECD Economic Outlook: December No. 80 – Volume 2006 Issue 2, OECD, Paris.
Statistical publications
- Maddison, Angus (2003), The World Economy: Historical Perspectives, OECD, Paris, also available on CD-ROM, www.theworldeconomy.org.
- OECD (2006), Quaterly National Accounts, OECD, Paris.
Methodological publications
- OECD (2007), Understanding National Accounts, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2000), OECD Glossaries, System of National Accounts, 1993 – Glossary, OECD, Paris.
- UN, OECD, IMF, Eurostat (eds.) (1993), System of National Accounts 1993, United Nations, Geneva.
Online databases
Websites
- OECD National Accounts, www.oecd.org/std/national-accounts.
| Texts | |
| • | Indicator web page |
| • | Indicator in PDF |
| Tables (xls) | |
| • | Real value added in agriculture, forestry and fishing |
| • | Real value added in industry |
| • | Real value added in services |
| Graphics | |
| • | Real value added in agriculture, forestry and fishing |
| • | Real value added in industry |
| • | Real value added in services |
Real value added in agriculture, forestry and fishing
|
16/94 | |