Correct. I find that most meaningful information you can derive from such numbers is inter-national, i.e. comparing countries over periods of time wherein inter

Correct. I find that most meaningful information you can derive from such numbers is inter-national, i.e. comparing countries over periods of time wherein internal indicators don't change (and that's already a tall order, but consistency is better at supranational levels such as OECD etc). It allows the comparison of "labor structure", how national economies tend to behave in that regard. It shows correlation with socio-economical policies, e.g. from the more 'socialistic' regimes to the more 'individualistic' ones. For instance you'd find that Germany and France have implemented vastly different economic structure since the turn of the century, and the German way consistently produced ~1% more growth with half the average unemployment rates; however productivity isn't higher (France is a weird champion at that), so for all its choice to massively reduce working hours comparatively to other countries, as well as de facto institute massive unemployement (about twice as much as comparable economies), France isn't losing too much on the comparative front — what it does to its population is another matter though, as the French show up as one of the most depressed and most pessimistic country on Earth. So these numbers are like relative fiat money to me; the actual face value means nothing, what matters is how they fare between each other, and what economic policy underpins each currency. I could take physics analogies of "relativity" but I guess the word alone is enough in that field. I suppose the 'rich account' of labor structure above, from sophistication to hours passing by morale and national policy/strategy is also enough to read that no, no "KPI" will cut it if we are to discuss complex matters. I'm sometimes appaled that we take very specific studies and then paint a whole world by deduction, without context, as it ever got us anywhere. Perception and opinion at its worst.