In this blog post, we track Venezuela’s economy over the past several years, including output per worker.

Output per worker measures how much economic output the average employed person produces in a given period. This measure is intimately related to labor productivity and is a core driver of living standards, as it tends to lead to higher wages.

 

Data on Venezuela’s output per worker

Real GDP: We have limited up-to-date data on the Venezuelan economy, so we must proceed cautiously with some projected numbers where data are unavailable. FRED has data on real output (GDP) for Venezuela until 2023. So we add real GDP growth estimates from the International Monetary Fund to our discussion. The IMF estimates that Venezuela’s real GDP grew by 5.3% between 2024 and 2025.

At the onset of the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, Venezuela’s real GDP was $17 billion. As of 2025, Venezuela’s GDP was $5.6 billion.

Employment: The number of employed workers is obtained by multiplying the country’s population by its employment-to-population ratio, both available in FRED until 2024. We use the 3-year average growth rate of these variables to predict values for 2025. Venezuela had about 17 million people employed in 2008. That number fell to 14 million people in 2025 after a decline in both population and employment ratios, as a result of difficulties accessing food, housing, healthcare, and security.

 

Venezuela’s recent turmoil

As we see in our FRED graph above, Venezuela’s real output per worker has plummeted since 2013. The average Venezuelan worker used to generate $1,014 of goods and services in 2008. In 2025 that worker generated only $391 of goods and services. Despite the mass exodus of Venezuelans who left the country starting in 2016, real output also sharply contracted, as discussed in an older post.

 

 

Other oil-producing countries

Our second FRED graph (above) shows the same output-per-worker statistic for the US and 5 other major oil producers: Iran, Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Unlike Venezuela’s output per worker, the other major oil-producing countries experienced a fairly stable trend in output over the past two decades. For instance, the average worker in the United Arab Emirates generated $54,181 in goods and services in 2024 (vs. $399 in Venezuela). The output per worker in Iran, Iraq, and Russia was around $12,000 to $18,000; in Saudi Arabia $39,683; and in the US $114,303.

To produce the same level of output from one US worker in 2024, Venezuela would need 286 workers, when it used to need 87 in 2008.

 

The takeaway

Viewing Venezuela through the lens of output per worker highlights the scale of the country’s challenges. Venezuelan workers today produce far less than a decade ago and significantly less than workers in other oil-producing countries. Without a sustained recovery in productivity, improvements in living standards are likely to remain limited.

 

How these graphs were created:
First graph: Search FRED for and select the annual series of “Real GDP at Constant National Prices for Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, add “Population, Total for Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” and “Employment to Population Ratio for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” Apply the formula 1000000*a/(b*c/100) to get real output per worker in 2021 US dollars. To add the trend lines, go to the “Edit Graph” panel and open the “Add Line” tab; click on “user-defined line” and enter values defining start and end for each new line.
Second graph: For calculating real GDP per worker in the US, search FRED for and select the annual series of “Real Gross Domestic Product per Capita” (measured in 2017 US dollars). From the “Edit Graph” panel, add “Employment-Population Ratio.” Apply the formula a/(b/100). To change placement of the y-axis, open the “Format” tab; select the “Customize” section for Line 1 and select “Left” for the y-axis position. For calculating real GDP per worker in Iran, open the “Add Line” tab and select the annual series of “Constant GDP per Capita for the Islamic Republic of Iran” (measured in 2010 US dollars). From the “Edit Lines” panel, add “Employment to Population Ratio for the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Apply the formula a/(b/100). Then open the “Format” tab; select the “customize” section for Line 1 and select “Right” for the y-axis position. Repeat these steps for the remaining countries.

Suggested by Hoang Le and Ricardo Marto.

FRED can help us compare the relative cost of living across different regions in the US with data known as regional price parities (RPPs).

On February 19, 2026, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released RPPs for states and metro areas for the year 2024. Our FRED map above shows these new values.

Note that the data are reported as an index: A value of 100 equals the national average, and a value of 110, for example, indicates a cost of living 10% above the national average.

Highlights

• The highest value is 110.7, in California.
• The lowest value is 86.9, in Arkansas.
• Two states, Illinois and Arizona, have RPPs of 100, exactly equal to the national average.

These data can be incredibly useful for understanding cost differences around the nation, but they may not match an individual’s personal experience when moving from one location to another.

Things to consider

An RRP measures the cost of the same basket of goods and services of the average household in different locations. In reality, households’ baskets of goods and services vary based on factors such as their age and income.

The availability of certain goods and services is different in different locations, and people’s purchases often depend on their location. For example, does anyone in Miami own a snowblower?

Most importantly, the cost of housing varies significantly across the nation. In places where housing is more expensive, people will choose smaller lots and homes so they can afford other goods and services.

RPPs do not measure “affordability”

We shouldn’t think of RPPs (or the cost of living in general) as a measure of “affordability.” Affordability assumes that people living in the region have enough income to purchase the good or service in question. It’s often the case that higher-cost regions also have lower incomes.

In addition to RPPs, the BEA releases real per capita personal income, which is the average income in a region adjusted by its RPP.

After adjusting for cost of living, Wyoming has the highest real per capita income, at $75,501, followed by Connecticut at $74,254, both well above the national average of $59,195. Mississippi has the lowest real per capita income at $48,465.

How these maps were created: First map: Search FRED for and select “Regional Price Parities: Missouri” (series ID MORPPALL). In the right-hand corner, click the green “View Map.” Second map: Search FRED for and select “Real Per Capita Personal Income Missouri” (series ID MORPIPC). Click “View Map.”

Suggested by John Fuller and Charles Gascon.

FRED has data that allow us to track and compare changes in employment across states and metro areas.

Our first FRED map, above, shows the change in nonfarm employment in each state during the fourth quarter of 2025. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released these data a little later than usual (on January 28) due to the government shutdown last fall.

At the state level

• North Carolina led all states, adding 22,700 jobs in the fourth quarter.
• The largest declines were in Virginia, which lost 17,400 jobs, and Washington, DC, which lost 18,400.
• Missouri led the Eighth Federal Reserve District states with 10,600 jobs added, which was the fifth largest gain among all US states; Indiana was last in the Eighth District, losing 17,000 jobs.

If you sum up the individual states, you’ll see a net gain of 50,700 jobs. This is different from the reported number for the nation, which shed 51,000 at the end of the fourth quarter. This difference exists because the state level has different sampling and tends to have a larger margin of error than the national number.

Our second FRED map, above, shows employment changes at the metro level.

• The New York-Newark-Jersey City MSA led the nation with 31,200 jobs added in the fourth quarter.
• The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA had the largest decline, losing 33,500 jobs.
• The St. Louis MSA gained 7,400 jobs.

These numbers for MSAs tend to vary greatly from quarter to quarter, with even greater sampling errors than the errors at the state and national levels. So, be careful not to read too much into the data.

NOTE: These data are subject to future revision by the source, with an annual revision the following March. Our ALFRED database records vintages of the data, so users can view the data as they appeared at various points in history: These links provide employment data for Missouri and St. Louis as of January 28, 2026.

How these maps were created: Search FRED for “total nonfarm employees in Missouri” (or any other state). Click “View Map” and then “Edit Map.” Change the units to “Change, Thousands of Persons” and the frequency to quarterly with aggregation method “End of Period.” Under “Format,” select “User Defined Method” for how to group the data: Switch the number of color groups to 3 and change the colors to red for states that shed jobs (or a value less than or equal to 0), light green for states with modest job growth (or less than 10), and dark green for states with strong growth (or a value large enough to incorporate the rest of the states). For the second map, repeat the process with an MSA—St. Louis, for example.

Suggested by John Fuller and Charles Gascon.