Past Events

Workshop hosted by the Office of the Productivity Board

16 October 2025

Austria’s industrial sector is under increasing pressure. Contributing factors include the energy crisis, rising protectionism in global trade, and China’s growing industrial dominance. At the same time, the economy is undergoing a fundamental restructuring driven by digitalisation and ecological transformation: industrial activities are shrinking, while knowledge-intensive services are gaining in importance.

This ongoing restructuring of the labour market is accompanied by frictions: it is difficult for workers to keep pace with new skill requirements. This exacerbates already existing recruitment challenges for firms, particularly in the areas of digital and technical qualifications. According to the EIB Investment Survey, in 2024 the shortage of skilled labour—alongside high energy costs and global uncertainty—was the most important barrier to investment in Austria. At the same time, there is a risk of social disruption, such as income inequality or regional disparities, if industrially dominated regions affected by employment losses fail to create adequate alternatives.

To actively shape this transformation, targeted economic and social policy measures are required. The government programme therefore foresees the development of an industrial strategy. This strategy is to include a vision for Austria as a business location, the definition of industrial priorities, and the identification and prioritisation of measures to strengthen competitiveness—among them a dedicated skills and qualification strategy.

The workshop focuses on this key aspect of the forthcoming industrial strategy: How can labour supply be strategically adapted to the changing economy? The contributions primarily examine the development of labour demand and seek to draw lessons for policies aimed at strengthening labour supply. The following questions will be at the centre of discussion:

• How does structural change affect employment? What role do the green and digital transitions, as well as the new geopolitical reality, play?
• In which sectors are new jobs emerging, and where is employment declining?
• Where and why does skills shortage occur? How is it related to firm characteristics?
• What measures are companies taking to adapt their workforce to structural change? Where do they encounter difficulties?
• What economic policy measures can help align labour supply with changing labour demand?
• How can the social consequences of structural change—such as inequality or regional disparities—be addressed?

The insights gained from the workshop will feed into the recommendations of the Productivity Report 2025.

Participation by invitation only.
Participants: Productivity Board, Office of the Productivity Board, AK, AMS, Bertelsmann Foundation, BMWET, BMASGPK, IHS, OECD, OeNB, WIFO, WKÖ.

Year of publication: 2025
 

Webinar by Carlo Altomonte, Italian National Productivity Board

October 14, 2025
16-17pm

Participation via Webex: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=mc633d5a8a5f706a8a76a8d61435f69f4

No registration required.

Abstract: In Italy, as in the rest of Europe, the stagnant dynamics of productivity represent a structural constraint, often overlooked in the formulation of public policies. Since the determinants of productivity are cross-cuIing – from innovation to the quality of institutions – it is necessary to adopt an integrated approach, overcoming the fragmentation between areas of intervention. To reverse the trend, a joint effort is needed at the national and European level, oriented towards the long term and supported by empirical evidence.

Download: Italian Annual Productivity Report 2025

Year of publication: 2025
 

Webinar by Thilo Kroeger and Michael Kogler, German Council of Economic Experts

July 15, 2025

Abstract: The German economy has been experiencing structural change – a shift in economic activity from manufacturing to services - although the share of manufacturing in gross value added has remained at a higher level than in other advanced economies since the 1990s. This is primarily a result of historical specialization and locational advantages. In the coming years, however, structural change will likely accelerate, driven by changes in international trade relations, decarbonization, digitalization and AI, as well as demographic ageing. The impact of structural change especially on employment is heterogeneous across regions: While metropolitan areas and economically strong rural regions benefit from positive agglomeration effects, disadvantaged regions (e.g., in East Germany) will likely face declining employment. In addition, regions that have been economically successful with a stable industry composition will also be affected by structural change, in particular, if they have specialized in knowledge-intensive manufacturing industries. Policy options to mitigate regional adjustment frictions and to prevent structural unemployment include providing suitable and attractive training opportunities for affected workers, investing in infrastructure and promoting technological progress with R&D investments.

Year of publication: 2025
 

Webinar von Alain Durré, Französischer Produktivitätsrat

June 5, 2025, 3-4 p.m.
Join by using the following link: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=mecc176ecad3893de2e5b74fad0c83f15

Abstract: Beyond factors common to all euro area countries; the analysis explores potential factors specific to France that may explain the additional slowdown in labour productivity per employee in market sectors (excluding agriculture), relative to its pre-Covid trend (2010–2019). Drawing on recent empirical literature, this section introduces three key innovations: (a) it provides an updated and more precise methodology compared with previous studies, incorporating recent national accounts data; (b) it examines the sensitivity of the findings to certain underlying assumptions; and (c) it investigates the causes of the productivity slowdown at the sector level.

Drawing on new data from the French national accounts (base year 2020 ), we analyse changes in apparent labour productivity per capita across sectors between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2024 . In order to assess accurately the contribution of each sector to overall productivity in the economy, these variations are analysed according to each sector’s relative size. A special role from recent labour market reforms – in favour of more apprenticeships and labour market participation – is particularly discussed at the global et sectoral levels.

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Year of publication: 2025
 

Webinar by Janne Huovari, Finnish Productivity Board

April 29, 2025, 3-4 p.m.
Join by using the following link: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=md7f4050b9b56bf5468c7a4cd889db555

Abstract: Slow productivity growth has been one of Finland's main economic challenges since the financial crisis. Now, the Finnish economy is also facing rising global challenges relating to climate change and mitigation as well as to the shifting geopolitical environment. Unless effectively addressed, these challenges could undermine productivity growth. The green transition may also have a positive impact on labour productivity. Industrial policy measures may be needed to address the green transition and geopolitical issues.

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Year of publication: 2025
 

Webinar von Nicolai Kaarsen, DØRS – Danish Economic Councils

19.06.2024 15-16 Uhr

Teilnahme über Webex: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=ma14ca1e52128dde4017cea7fa4981dac

Abstract: During the past 20 years, Danish firms have increased their exports of goods produced abroad that never cross the Danish border (so-called merchanting and processing activities). We find that the increase is driven by a handful of superstar manufacturing firms who have expanded globally using production in other countries. The rise of these superstars and their expanded foreign activities explain a substantial share of Danish productivity growth in recent years and also drive an increase in markups and a decrease in the labor share. Besides the analysis, the presentation will include a brief overview of the main policy recommendations and comments on recent Danish productivity policy from the 2024 productivity report.

Year of publication: 2024
 

Webinar by Siska Vandecandelaere and Chantal Kegels, National Productivity Board - Belgium

April 8, 2025, 3-4 p.m.
Join by using the following link: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=m6643e5dfca23df583fdf605384d36003

Abstract: The presentation will focus on two thematic analyses of the Annual Report of 2024.

The first is the contribution of non-market services to productivity growth of the economy. In the absence of market prices for non-market services, it is not possible, based on national accounts alone, to construct a measure of the productivity of these activities of the same quality than the one for market activities. Therefore, we propose to look at other quantitative and qualitative indicators to better monitor the evolution of the contribution of these services to the economy as a whole. Given the importance of human capital in productivity growth, we focus our investigation in the context of this report on education.

A second theme explored in the 2024 report focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on productivity growth. Expectations are high, but does AI truly have the potential to revive sluggish productivity growth? And how does Belgium perform in terms of AI-adoption? In conclusion, we examine the most important barriers to AI-adoption and identify some key policy levers to fully realize the benefits of this new technology.

Year of publication: 2024
 

Webinar by Leon Bettendorf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Analysis 

May 22, 2024, 3-4 p.m.

Abstract: In earlier research we found no evidence for a growing productivity gap between frontier firms and the median firm in the period 2007-2015. In addition, we found that the composition of the top decile of productivity substantially changed from year to year. However, recent research on new datasets shows that the productivity gap started increasing during the last years and that around 90% of firms are remaining at the frontier.

The Austrian Productivity Board hosted the 3^rd Technical Support Instrument Workshop of CompNet, which took place in Vienna on February 22-23 2024. CompNet members, productivity board executives and representatives of national statistical offices from all over Europe met to discuss the current status of the development of a European microdata platform and recent research contributions with comparative microdata at the firm level.

This workshop was an activity in the „Microdata platform for productivity“ project supported by a grant of the European Commission Directorate-general for Structural Reform Support under grant agreement No. 101101853 and No. 101140673 (Austria).

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What do the Recovery and Resilience Plans tell us about linking transformation and innovation policy?

Webinar with DI DR. Matthias Weber
December 7, 2023

Governments are increasingly utilising research and innovation (R&I) policy to foster economic and societal change. Yet, the empirical correlation between these policies and socio-technical transformations remains under-explored. The report investigates this relationship by comparing the Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) of Austria, Finland and Sweden, initiated under the NextGenerationEU framework post Covid-19. The report to be presented at this seminar investigates significant disparities in the content, process and transformative value of the RRPs among these countries. The differences in the content of the national RRPs, and the ability and willingness to seize the opportunity presented by the RRPs to drive transformation, are explained by existing national policy contexts and frameworks. Surprisingly, the role of R&I policy in the RRPs is less important than expected, despite its emphasised importance in literature and political rhetoric. The report further identifies implications for a transformative innovation policy as well as areas for further research.

Link to the report: https://doi.org/10.1787/45d3a149-en
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Webinar with  Alessandro Zona Mattioli — Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (vu.nl)

14.11.2023 11-12:30 CEST

Contrary to widespread concern about EU firms’ indebtedness, we show that EU corporate leverage is steadily declining in a clear reversal from its historical trend. Using tax filing data from the universe of French and Dutch firms, we find a consistent decline in both gross and net leverage since 2000—a trend that also occurs in other EU countries as well as among non-listed US firms. The decline occurred during periods of strong growth, sharp crises and recovery under very loose monetary policy. It is consistent across the entire size distribution, dividend and non-dividend paying firms, and firms with high or low productivity growth. It appears robust to financial constraint measures, and is not driven by survival bias. These results point to a significant decline in credit demand, which is supported by a 2SLS analysis using shocks to exporting firms’ investment opportunities. Our tentative conclusion is that most EU firms demand less credit because of reduced investment prospects, while a subset rely more on intangible assets that can be created with little debt financing.

Webinar with  Filippo di Mauro - IWH

14.11.2023 11-12:30 CEST

The 2023 Flagship Firm Productivity Report offers critical insights on the short-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis across several dimensions: firm-level productivity, competitiveness, potential output, the reallocation of resources, and firm concentration. The report also examines firm responses to energy price shocks and tighter credit constraints. The results are relevant for the post-COVID recovery across Europe, and for building resilience while waiting for the next crisis.

Link to the paper: CompNet_Productivity_Report_-_July_2023.pdf (comp-net.org)

Webinar by  Prof Slavo Radosevic | UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) - UCL – University College London.

11.10.2023

The webinar focuses on the challenge of institutionalizing experimentation in transformative innovation policy beyond initial pilot projects. It compares two experimental approaches: pilots and policy labs, and explores how to embed them into regional settings either via agencies or through grassroots stakeholder involvement. Drawing from EU regional innovation policy case studies, including Slovenia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden, the analysis reveals that mainstream solutions like pilots and policy labs face significant hurdles. It advocates for a blend of top-down and bottom-up strategies facilitated by regional or national governments to successfully implement Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI). The study offers preliminary guidance on policy design to enhance the likelihood of scaling up innovations.

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Further reading:

S. Radosevic, D.Kanellou, G.Tsekouras (2023). The experimentation–accountability trade-off in innovation and industrial policy: are learning networks the solution? Science and Public Policy, Volume 50, Issue 4, August 2023, Pages 655–669, https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scad013

S. Radosevic, G. Tsekouras and P. Wostner. (2023). Institutionalising experimentation in innovation policy: challenges and solutions in upscaling, European Commission, Seville, Spain 2023, JRC134408

Online-Vortrag mit anschließender Diskussion von Dirk Pilat, Research Fellow am The Productivity Institute (UK) und Associate Researcher am Valencia Institute of Economic Research

01.02.2023
Dirk Pilat presented a comprehensive review of recent analytical work and policy recommendations from ten national productivity commissions, including those from countries such as Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, etc. He demonstrated that while these commissions face similar challenges, there are also some crucial areas of competitiveness and productivity improvement that have not received enough consideration, such as the interconnection between climate change and productivity, the significance of the public sector in enhancing productivity, and the impact of productivity growth on improving the standard of living and overall well-being.

D. Pilat (2023). The Rise of Pro-Productivity Institutions: A Review of Analysis and Policy Recommendations. Productivity Insights Paper No. 015, The Productivity Institute, Link.

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Online-Vortrag mit anschließender Diskussion von Dr. Niklas Garnadt, Generalsekretär des Sachverständigenrates für Wirtschaft

07.12.2022
In einem Online-Vortrag präsentiert Generalsekretär Dr. Niklas Garnadt vor einem Fachpublikum die Hauptergebnisse des Jahresgutachtens des SVR für Wirtschaft 2022/23. Der Vortrag fokussiert auf die Themen Energiekrise und Strukturwandel, Fachkräftesicherung und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und bietet die Möglichkeit zur anschließenden Diskussion der Ergebnisse

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