Singapores labour productivity declined by 1.3 per cent cent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year. This is despite the governments strong push to raise productivity through its many initiatives. ANZ Economist Daniel Wilson says productivity figures tend to be volatile, while pointing out that it was labour-intensive sectors which dragged the overall numbers lower. According to the data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the sectors with the sharpest productivity declines were accommodation and food services, which dropped by 3.2 per cent, and business services, which declined by 2.7 per cent. On the other hand, productivity in the manufacturing sector rose by 1.1 per cent, while finance and insurance rose by 1.6 per cent. Mr Wilson says it takes time to raise productivity in labour-intensive sectors. Its much easier to raise productivity in a simple manufacturing plant than it is in an accounting firm. Particularly in a lot of these services, it requires speciality skills. So to raise productivity from a fairly elevated level is more difficult than just improving manufacturing productivity by adding a brand new machine or a new process. Looking ahead, Mr Wilson expects productivity to improve for the second half of this year to be led by the manufacturing sector. 938LIVE / gw
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 04:39:37 +0000
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