PwC: Labour productivity hits high

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

In the March quarter 2012, National labour productivity grew by more than one per cent according to the PwC Productivity Scorecard.

The PwC Productivity Scorecard is a national quarterly analysis of labour productivity by state and territory and across 16 key industries. The PwC Productivity Scorecard provides a timely measure of a regional industry’s relative labour productivity.
Productivity is the amount of output per unit of input. Productivity is not about making people work harder. Rather, productivity induced efficiencies provide the potential for an industry to increase its contribution to the Australian economy.

Challenges facing Australian manufacturing include the high Australian Dollar and high wages growth and improved efficiency comes at a cost and employment prospects in the manufacturing sector are already at their lowest since 2009.

There is a significant productivity gap between states with productivity stagnant in New South Wales and Victoria. These two states account for about 60 per cent of national output.
PwC estimated that this productivity gap in Victoria in 2009-10 was equivalent to $2.3 billion in unrealised gross value added when comparing Victoria against the national average, and $3.3 billion compared with New South Wales.