Abstract:
Three main measures are used to rank the labour-intensity of economic sectors
neither of which are inherently superior; each bring different insights and are useful in
different ways. The first is the labour-capital ratio. This is the ratio between
employment and capital stock. Second is the labour-value added ratio. This shows the
ratio between employment and value added. Notably, the labour-value added ratio is
the inverse of labour productivity. Thirdly, employment multipliers are calculated per
sector. These multipliers are used to show the indirect labour-intensity and allow for
comparison across sectors. It is important to note the existence of leakages to avoid
an overstatement of employment multipliers. As such an import-adjusted measure
which excludes imported intermediate inputs used to rank sectors according to employment multipliers.
