The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Canada risks a further deterioration in living standards if its lacklustre performance in productivity does not improve, economists at TD Bank warn in a new report. The Globe's Matt Lundy writes that business sector productivity -- output per hour worked, adjusted for inflation -- grew by a "respectable" annual average of 1.2 per cent over the decade before the pandemic, TD chief economist Beata Caranci and senior economist James Marple write in their report, published Thursday. Since then, however, productivity growth has ground to a halt. The slowdown has been driven by a contraction in the goods sector, the report notes, and the decline is especially bad in the construction industry, where productivity has tumbled to levels last seen in the 1990s. "Canada has seen its productivity go from bad to worse since the pandemic," the TD report says. "Without improved productivity growth, workers will face stagnating wages and government revenues will not keep pace with spending commitments, requiring higher taxes or reduced public services." In March, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers said the country was facing a productivity "emergency."