Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Productivity standouts and stragglers
Productivity | Strategy
June 4, 2025 – As economies face broad global issues such as demographic shifts and inflated balance sheets, businesses’ productivity growth is increasingly crucial. In high-growth sectors, standout firms make significant contributions to productivity, while in low-growth sectors, the impact of straggler firms is more pronounced. For example, from 2011 to 2019, the US computer sector saw an 8 percent productivity growth, with standout firms contributing 8.1 percentage points, note Senior Partner Sven Smit and colleagues. In contrast, some sectors in several countries had many stragglers, which each dragged on productivity and resulted in negative growth. Click through the interactive to see more.
To read the report, see “The power of one: How standout firms grow national productivity,” May 6, 2025.
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Visual form
Table (with Visual Encoding): three-frame ranked productivity table for subsector standouts and stragglers.
Layout / body structure
Each frame uses the same row-and-column table layout. Rows list country and subsector combinations, while columns show productivity growth, standout-firm contribution, standout count, straggler contribution, straggler count, and the standout-to-straggler ratio.
What is being compared
It compares high-growth, low-growth, and negative-growth subsectors across the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom by separating productivity lift from standout firms and drag from straggler firms.
Measurement system
The table uses percent productivity growth, percentage-point contributions, firm counts, and a ratio comparing standout firms with straggler firms.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The same column structure repeats across the three frames, making the reader compare the standout columns against the straggler columns row by row. Strong rows show large positive standout contributions; weak rows show small or absent offsets against negative straggler contributions.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart shows productivity as a firm-distribution problem: standout firms create most of the upside, while stragglers hold back weaker subsectors or deepen negative-growth cases.
Key standout values or extremes
In the high-growth frame, US Computers shows 8 percent productivity growth with an 8.1-point standout contribution and a 0.1-point straggler drag. In the negative-growth frame, UK Other transport manufacturing shows minus 5 percent productivity growth with a minus 4.2-point straggler contribution.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
Previous and Next move through the high-growth, low-growth, and negative-growth table frames while preserving the same columns.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the ranked productivity table is the visual on this page.