摘要：Since the late 1950s manufacturing growth has slowed in many western economies as the rate of profit and investment have dec1ined (Armstrong et al. 1991; Marglin and Schor 1990). The Canadian economy has been no exception, witnessing a reduction in the rate of growth of output and capital between the 1950s and the 1980s (Webber and Rigby 1986). Slow output growth, coupled with strong gains in labour productivity over much of the post-war period (see Baumol et al. 1988; Rao 1988), has had a dramatic influence on manufacturing employment in most industrial nations. In Canada, while the hours spent in direct production activities have increased since the 1950s, the pace of employment growth has become progressively slower.
