Canada is falling behind the United States and other developed economies in providing workers the tools they need to create more and better goods, earn higher salaries and boost productivity economy-wide, says a new study released today by the C.D. Howe Institute.

In Canadian Workers Need Better Tools: Canada Falling Behind in Global Investment Race, authors William B.P. Robson, senior vice president and director of research, and Danielle Goldfarb, senior policy analyst, assess how well Canada is doing relative to other countries in terms of capital investment in machinery, equipment and structures. The short answer: not well. A long-standing gap between capital investment per worker in the U.S. and that in Canada has widened further.

Robson and Goldfarb estimate the gap at $3,200 per worker in 2006, and the projections indicate that it will grow to almost $3,800 in 2007. A comparison of Canada against Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries shows investment per worker in Canada roughly matched that in developed countries in general in the late 1990s: now it is some $1,400 less, and the trend is against Canada.