1
Australian productivity trends and the effect of
structural change
Simon Campbell and Harry Withers
For a small open economy like Australia, which specialises in commodity exports, fluctuations in the
terms of trade and productivity growth are the primary drivers of per capita income growth. Because
the global mining sector responds to higher commodity prices by expanding capacity, the terms of
trade are unlikely to provide sustained boosts to Australia’s living standards. As such, labour
productivity is likely to be the main driver of future growth in living standards. This paper analyses
trends in Australia’s productivity performance and disaggregates productivity growth into industry
contributions to evaluate how structural change is affecting productivity growth.
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural change
2
Introduction
Labour productivity growth is, and is expected to continue to be, the key determinant of growth in
Australian living standards. In terms of the size of the economy, economic growth is determined by
growth in labour utilisation1 and growth in labour productivity. 2 At an individual level, the primary
drivers of per capita income growth are fluctuations in the terms of trade and labour productivity
growth.
Because the global mining sector responds to higher commodity prices by expanding capacity, the
terms of trade are unlikely to provide sustained boosts to Australia’s living standards. As such,
labour productivity is likely to be the main driver of future growth in living standards.
Despite concerns, Australia’s labour productivity growth over recent years is in line with its
longer-term performance. In the five years to 2015-16, labour productivity in the whole economy has
grown at an average annual rate of 1.8 per cent. This compares to an average annual rate of
1.4 per cent over the past 15 years and 1.6 per cent over the past 30 years.3
Given the importance of labour productivity growth in improving living standards, an understanding
of trends in Australia’s productivity performance and the impact of structural change on productivity
growth can help reveal where we stand and implications for the future. This paper discusses sources
of productivity growth in the Australian context, followed by an examination of sectoral productivity
growth to highlight how within-sector productivity growth and across-sector productivity growth (or
the effects of structural change on productivity) contribute to aggregate productivity growth.
In analysing sources of labour productivity growth, we address the tension between labour
productivity growth and multifactor productivity (MFP) metrics. Commentators who view labour
productivity growth through the lens of a closed economy neoclassical growth framework have
voiced concerns about the slow growth of MFP (Garnaut, 2015). This concern, in large part, stems
from the belief that sustainable long-run economic growt ...
Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptx
1 Australian productivity trends and the effect of struc
1. 1
Australian productivity trends and the effect of
structural change
Simon Campbell and Harry Withers
For a small open economy like Australia, which specialises in
commodity exports, fluctuations in the
terms of trade and productivity growth are the primary drivers
of per capita income growth. Because
the global mining sector responds to higher commodity prices
by expanding capacity, the terms of
trade are unlikely to provide sustained boosts to Austral ia’s
living standards. As such, labour
productivity is likely to be the main driver of future growth in
living standards. This paper analyses
trends in Australia’s productivity performance and
disaggregates productivity growth into industry
contributions to evaluate how structural change is affecting
productivity growth.
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
2
Introduction
Labour productivity growth is, and is expected to continue to
2. be, the key determinant of growth in
Australian living standards. In terms of the size of the economy,
economic growth is determined by
growth in labour utilisation1 and growth in labour productivity.
2 At an individual level, the primary
drivers of per capita income growth are fluctuations in the terms
of trade and labour productivity
growth.
Because the global mining sector responds to higher commodity
prices by expanding capacity, the
terms of trade are unlikely to provide sustained boosts to
Australia’s living standards. As such,
labour productivity is likely to be the main driver of future
growth in living standards.
Despite concerns, Australia’s labour productivity growth over
recent years is in line with its
longer-term performance. In the five years to 2015-16, labour
productivity in the whole economy has
grown at an average annual rate of 1.8 per cent. This compares
to an average annual rate of
1.4 per cent over the past 15 years and 1.6 per cent over the past
30 years.3
Given the importance of labour productivity growth in
improving living standards, an understanding
of trends in Australia’s productivity performance and the impact
of structural change on productivity
growth can help reveal where we stand and implications for the
future. This paper discusses sources
of productivity growth in the Australian context, followed by an
examination of sectoral productivity
growth to highlight how within-sector productivity growth and
across-sector productivity growth (or
the effects of structural change on productivity) contribute to
3. aggregate productivity growth.
In analysing sources of labour productivity growth, we address
the tension between labour
productivity growth and multifactor productivity (MFP) metrics.
Commentators who view labour
productivity growth through the lens of a closed economy
neoclassical growth framework have
voiced concerns about the slow growth of MFP (Garnaut, 2015).
This concern, in large part, stems
from the belief that sustainable long-run economic growth must
be balanced with output and capital
growing at the same rate and that this common growth rate is
determined solely by the growth of
MFP. Our analysis shows that Australia’s labour productivity
growth has not been limited by
balanced growth or the growth rate of MFP. Australia’s labour
productivity growth has largely been
driven by capital deepening (that is, higher capital per worker)
rather than MFP growth.
Sectoral analysis reveals how aggregate productivity growth can
be affected by structural change in
the economy. In Australia, most sectors have broadly similar
productivity levels with the exception of
the Mining and Utilities sectors, which have relatively high
productivity levels. The movement of
workers into and out of the Mining sector is the dominant factor
behind the effect of structural change
on aggregate productivity growth.
1 Labour utilisation is a function of the ratio of the working
age population to the total population; the labour
force participation rate; the employment (unemployment) rate;
4. and average hours worked.
2 Labour productivity growth — the key measure of
productivity growth — measures growth in output per
worker (typically defined on an hours worked basis). Labour
productivity growth is driven by increases in
the ratio of capital to labour (capital deepening), as well as
improvements in the efficiency with which labour
and capital inputs are utilised (multifactor productivity).
3 This is not a reason for complacency, however. Mechanically,
there would need to be a sustained lift in
average annual productivity growth to around 2½ per cent to
allow living standards (measured as per capita
income) to continue to improve at the long-run historical rate
(represented by 30-year average growth in real
gross national income per capita) of around 2 per cent per
annum.
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
3
Outside a Mining boom, where the structural change effect
supplements within-sector productivity
growth, aggregate productivity growth is driven
overwhelmingly by within-sector productivity
growth. While within-sector Mining productivity growth is
expected to contribute strongly to
aggregate productivity growth for the next few years, the large
and growing services sectors will
remain responsible for growth prospects in the longer term.
5. Efforts to increase productivity in the
services sectors will grow in importance into the future.
Sources of aggregate labour productivity growth
Labour productivity growth can be calculated as the sum of
capital deepening and MFP growth.
Capital deepening is the change in the ratio of capital to labour
4 multiplied by capital’s share of factor
income. MFP, which is also known as total factor productivity,
reflects the overall efficiency with
which labour and capital inputs are used together in the
production process. In simplified terms,
labour productivity growth can therefore be thought of as the
sum of: (i) increases in the amount of
capital per worker; and (ii) how much better labour and capital
work together.
MFP growth can arise for many reasons, including new
management practices that allow capital and
labour to be combined more effectively or a more efficient
allocation of labour and capital across the
economy. But unlike output, labour or capital, MFP is not
directly observed. Rather, it is calculated as
a residual (meaning mismeasurement of labour or capital inputs
will be reflected in mismeasured
MFP).5
Internationally, G7 countries have experienced a slowdown in
MFP growth relative to capital
deepening over recent decades. Up until around the late 1990s,
the contribution of MFP growth to
labour productivity in G7 countries was generally at least as
important as the contribution of capital
deepening. Since then, most of the slowdown in labour
productivity growth has been driven by lower
MFP growth (OECD, 2015).
6. The contribution to labour productivity growth in Australia
from capital deepening has been higher
than the contribution from MFP growth. Of the 30-year average
of 1.6 per cent whole-of-economy
labour productivity growth, capital deepening contributed 0.9
percentage points and MFP
0.7 percentage points (Chart 1). This is at odds with the
balanced growth/MFP growth framework,
which implies a contribution from capital deepening equal to
capital’s share of factor incomes. After
rising slowly over the past 30 years, capital’s share of factor
income in Australia’s market sector is
currently around 41 per cent (coming off its peak of 44 per cent
in 2011-12).6
4 Labour being hours worked in our analysis.
5 For example, it can be difficult to accurately measure the
volume of capital services.
6 Labour’s share of income is therefore currently around 59 per
cent. (ABS cat. no. 5260.0.55.002, Table 14).
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
4
Chart 1: Labour productivity growth decomposition7
Source: ABS cat. no. 5260.0.55.002 and Treasury calculations.
As a source of labour productivity growth, MFP growth is
7. considered to have an important
advantage over capital deepening. Neoclassical growth theory
implicitly assumes that, unlike capital
deepening, MFP growth does not necessarily require an
economy to forgo consumption. As such,
growth in MFP is generally considered a highly desirable — and
sustainable — source of labour
productivity growth. That said, improvements in MFP do not
come for free, given they usually
require the use of other factors of production.
However, Australia has largely avoided the downside to capital
deepening-led labour productivity
growth. Productivity improvements in the rest of the world have
caused a persistent fall in the price
of capital goods relative to consumption goods. This has
allowed Australia to sustain its high rate of
capital deepening without forgoing ever higher levels of
consumption.
It is important to note that the relative contribution of capital
deepening and MFP may be skewed if
new capital takes some time to boost output. For example,
during an investment boom the
contribution of capital deepening to labour productivity growth
may be overstated and the
contribution of MFP growth understated for capital with a long-
time-to-build. Such a delay in
productivity associated with capital investment has been
particularly evident in the Mining sector
over the past decade — with flow-on effects to whole of
economy estimates of capital deepening and
MFP growth. With the ending of the Mining investment boom
and Mining output continuing to grow
over coming years, MFP growth is expected to recover
(although potentially be overstated).
8. Factors driving historical aggregate labour productivity growth
During the 1990s, there was strong growth in aggregate labour
productivity (Chart 1). This can
largely be attributed to more investment by firms in information
and communications technology
(ICT) and important microeconomic and macroeconomic
reforms introduced since the mid-1980s. The
former contributed not only to productivity growth through ICT
production but also the use of ICT
7 The time periods on the x-axis are productivity cycles as
calculated by the ABS. Productivity growth cycle
peaks are determined by comparing the annual MFP estimates
with their corresponding long-term trend
estimates. The peak deviations between these two series are the
primary indicators of a growth cycle peak,
although general economic conditions at the time are also
considered.
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
10. Per cent Per cent
MFP Capital deepening Labour productivity
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
5
(Gretton, Gali and Parham, 2004). The latter included changes
in monetary and fiscal policies, capital
markets, industry assistance, taxation, government enterprises,
regulation, labour markets and
industrial relations, competition policy, innovation and training
(Productivity Commission, 1999
and 2004).
These reforms have been shown to have increased competition,
promoted more efficient allocation of
resources and improved international competitiveness. Some
have argued that they also created a
competitive environment that has led to permanently higher
levels of innovation as businesses
anticipated global changes in technology, international
competition and tastes (Dolman, 2009).
The resurgence of economy-wide labour productivity growth
during the 1990s was led by the
services sector. Industries like wholesale trade and financial
services seized on new advances in ICT
to transform the way they did business. And following the
corporatisation and privatisation of their
operations, industries like telecommunications and utilities
11. achieved continued productivity growth
by scaling back investment levels and substantially reducing
their workforces. Productivity levels in
these industries rose towards the international technological
frontier (Dolman and Gruen, 2012).
However, aggregate labour productivity growth slowed during
the 2000s. Several factors contributed
to this decline. The Agriculture sector was hit by drought and
the Mining and Utilities sectors
experienced a fall in productivity as it pursued an ‘unrequited
acceleration in input use’ without a
corresponding change in output (Parham, 2012). At a broader
level, a reduction of productivity
growth in most developed countries would suggest a possible
decline in the pace of technological
change (Gordon, 2014).
In the end, policy settings that seek to support both capital
deepening (by lowering the cost of capital)
and MFP improvements (through greater efficiency, innovation
and reallocation within existing
resource constraints) will support future growth in labour
productivity in Australia.
Sectoral analysis
The drivers of aggregate labour productivity growth can be
better understood by examining the issue
from a sectoral perspective. In particular, doing so provides
insights into the role that structural
change plays on aggregate productivity growth.
Labour productivity, capital deepening and MFP can each be
measured at the sectoral level. 8 In the
analysis that follows, the paper disaggregates the economy into
six sectors: Agriculture, Forestry and
12. Fishing; Mining; Manufacturing; Utilities; Construction and
Services, where Services is an aggregate
of all remaining sectors in the Australian economy. 9
For this analysis, aggregate labour productivity growth
comprises two components: a within-sector
contribution; and an across-sector contribution, also known as a
structural change effect. The former
8 Although data is unfortunately only available from 1988-89
to 2015-16.
9 The ‘services sectors’ are the combination of the following
sectors: Wholesale trade; Retail trade;
Accommodation and food services; Transport, postal and
warehousing; Information media and
telecommunications; Financial and insurance services; Arts and
recreation services; Rental, hiring and real
estate services; Professional, scientific and technical services;
Administrative and support services; Other
services; Public administration and safety; Education and
training; and Health care and social assistance.
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
6
is the sum of sectoral productivity growth weighted by sectoral
GDP share. The latter is the change in
productivity from sectoral reallocation of workers (see
Appendix B for methodology). 10
13. Within-sector labour productivity growth
In the absence of workers moving between sectors, it is the
productivity growth within sectors that
determines growth in aggregate labour productivity. Chart 2
shows how labour productivity has
grown in different sectors.
Chart 2: Sectoral labour productivity (indexed to 1988-89)
Source: ABS cat. no. 5204.0 (Table 5, Table 15), ABS cat. no.
5260.0.55.002 (Table 6), ABS cat. no. 6291.0.55.003 (Table 11,
supplemented with unpublished ABS data) and Treasury
calculations.
A few initial observations can be made from Chart 2:
• Labour productivity has grown strongly in the Agriculture,
Forestry and Fishing sector, with
productivity in the sector now over 2½ times its 1988-89 level.
• The Mining and Utilities sectors showed strong labour
productivity growth until the early 2000s
before steadily declining through to 2011-12.11 In fact, Mining
sector productivity fell so far over
the period that in 2011-12 it was below its 1988-89 levels.12
10 The shift share-analysis considered in this article can be
used to shed light on whether resource reallocations
between industries are producing efficiency gains through
higher productivity outcomes or whether
developments within industries are driving aggregate
productivity outcomes. The analysis is primarily
14. concerned with describing where, on an industry basis,
productivity growth is coming from. The analysis
says nothing about the underlying factors driving resource
allocation between industries or the nature of
developments within industries.
11 The productivity decline in the Utilities sector from 1997-98
was due to its own unique set of factors. The
construction of new facilities for the provision of water
services, the higher levels of investment to replace
ageing network infrastructure, the move from large coal to gas-
fired power stations and renewable energy
sources which require higher inputs per unit of output and the
drought affecting output levels in water in the
early 2000s all detracted from productivity growth in the sector
(Productivity Commission, 2012a and 2012b).
12 The reduction in the level of labour productivity in the
Mining industry during the 2000s can be explained by
the lead times between capital investment and the corresponding
increase in output, the employment of less
skilled workers at the outset of the mining boom and the
depletion of high quality natural resources. In
interpreting Mining sector productivity it should be noted the
dramatic fall in Mining productivity in the
2000s may also reflect some Construction sector labour being
misclassified as Mining sector labour.
75
100
125
150
16. Agriculture, forestry and fishing Mining Manufacturing
Utilities Construction Services
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
7
– Recent data show that with the shift of the mining boom to the
production phase, Mining
sector labour productivity growth has improved. Despite more
subdued productivity
growth in Mining during 2015-16, the sector’s productivity
growth is expected to continue
its recovery in coming years as output increases (the payoff to
the capital deepening from
2003-04 seen in Chart 1).
• Productivity in the Manufacturing and Construction sectors
has shown growth consistent with
that of the broader economy.
• Similarly, labour productivity in Australia’s services sectors
over the past 25 years has grown at
an average annual rate of 1.7 per cent — broadly in line with
long-run labour productivity
growth for the whole economy.
– This result is not surprising, given the services sectors we
define collectively account for
almost 70 per cent of Australia’s economic output (sector shares
of output are shown below
17. in Chart 3 — note that the services sectors are plotted against
the right-hand-side axis).13
Chart 3: Sector shares of total economic output (gross value
added)
Source: ABS cat. no. 5204.0 (Table 5).
Chart 3 demonstrates that despite the attention given to Mining
as a determinant of Australia’s
productivity performance, it is the services sectors that will
continue to play a key role in driving
future aggregate productivity growth. Mining’s share of output
is certainly significant — now over
8 per cent of the economy, rising sharply from just over 5½ per
cent in 2003-04. But over the last five
years over half of Australia’s annual aggregate labour
productivity growth was attributable to growth
within the services sectors, compared with around one-quarter
attributable to Mining. This
underlines the importance of policy settings in the services
sectors.
Meanwhile, Manufacturing and Agriculture (often referred to as
key drivers of Australia’s
productivity) continue to shrink. The two industries now
contribute less than 10 per cent of
13 It should also be noted that within the services sector
composite the individual productivity levels and
growth rates of individual services sectors differ greatly; some
suggest this makes them inappropriate to
consider in aggregate (Inklaar, Timmer and van Ark, 2007).
While analysis of individual services sectors is
18. beyond the scope of this paper (perceptions about poor
productivity performance in the services sectors
could relate to individual sectors) they have been aggregated to
demonstrate their size and historical
contribution to aggregate growth.
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
19. 16
1988-89 1991-92 1994-95 1997-98 2000-01 2003-04 2006-07
2009-10 2012-13 2015-16
Per cent Per cent
Services (RHS)
Manufacturing (LHS)
Mining (LHS)
Construction (LHS)
Utilities (LHS)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (LHS)
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
8
Australia’s output combined (around 7 per cent and 2½ per cent
respectively). Their contribution to
aggregate productivity growth over the last five years has been
negligible.
Structural change
Structural change involves the shift of resources from one
industry to another. As workers shift in this
way, the contribution to aggregate labour productivity growth
20. will depend on the relative
productivity between sectors. For instance, workers moving
from relatively high productivity sectors
to relatively low productivity sectors will detract from
aggregate productivity growth (and
vice versa).
In this respect, the key sector is Mining. Although the level of
productivity in the Mining sector over
recent decades has been far from consistent, it has remained the
highest in the Australian economy.
Among the sectors featured in Chart 4, only the productivity
levels of the Utilities sector have come
close to the levels of the Mining sector in this period. The
Mining sector is currently recording
productivity that is over three times the economy wide average
in 2015-16 (after peaking at almost
six times the economy wide average in 2000-01).
Chart 4: Sectoral labour productivity levels (relative to
economy-wide average)
Source: ABS cat. no. 5204.0 (Table 5), ABS cat. no.
6291.0.55.003 (Table 11, supplemented with unpublished ABS
data) and
Treasury calculations.
As such, structural change will only have a significant effect on
aggregate labour productivity growth
when labour moves in and out of the Mining sector (and to a
slightly lesser extent, the Utilities
sector). As Chart 4 shows, there is little gain or cost to
aggregate labour productivity growth when
labour moves between sectors with similar productivity levels,
21. such as Manufacturing, Construction
and Services.
In some sectors, there has been an inverse relationship between
productivity growth and labour
share. Chart 5 below shows how each sector’s share of hours
worked has changed since 1988-89,
thereby highlighting the movement of labour across sectors
(again, note that the services sectors are
plotted against the right-hand-side axis). The strong labour
productivity growth in Agriculture over
recent decades shown in Chart 2 is explained by the sector
experiencing reduced hours worked
(Chart 5) for the production of broadly the same output (Chart
3).
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
23. Ratio
Agriculture, forestry and fishing Mining Manufacturing
Utilities Construction Services
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
9
Chart 5: Hours worked share
Source: ABS cat. no. 6291.0.55.003 (Table 11, supplemented
with unpublished ABS data) and Treasury calculations.
The same inverse relationship is evident in the Mining sector —
with significant ramifications for
aggregate productivity growth. The decline in the share of hours
worked in the Mining and Utilities
sectors from 1988-89 to the early 2000s is associated with
rising productivity levels illustrated in
Chart 2 and Chart 4. This inverse relationship, particularly in
Mining, then continued albeit in the
other direction as the Mining boom attracted labour while
productivity fell sharply (due to a
combination of a significant increase in labour with a modest
24. increase in output). This is now
beginning to turn around again. These movements of labour into
and out of Mining have been the
key driver behind the fluctuations in both the within and across
sector contributions to aggregate
labour productivity growth.
Overall contributions to aggregate productivity growth
To understand the relative contributions of each to aggregate
productivity growth, Chart 6 below
decomposes it into contributions from within-sector growth and
the reallocation of workers across
sectors. In doing so, it illustrates distinct periods where sector
reallocation has detracted from
aggregate labour productivity growth and where it has
contributed to it.14
The chart shows that productivity growth is largely driven by
the within-sector contribution. Looking
across the whole sample, just over 90 per cent of the economy’s
aggregate labour productivity growth
has come from within-sector productivity growth. In other
words, the effects of structural change,
including the ups and downs of the Mining boom, has
contributed less than 10 per cent of the
economy’s aggregate labour productivity growth since 1988-89.
14 The red bars of Chart 6 are closely related to movements of
the Mining sector’s share of hours worked in the
economy in Chart 5. That is, when Mining’s share of hours
worked falls (such as during the period from the
early 1990s up until the turn of the century), we see large blue
bars (strong within-sector productivity growth,
25. largely driven by Mining’s productivity performance) and
smaller negative red bars (the offsetting effect on
aggregate labour productivity growth of losing labour to less
productive sectors). When the Mining sector’s
share of hours worked rise (such as from the early 2000s until
recently), we see smaller blue bars combining
with positive red bars as reduced productivity growth within
Mining is supplemented by the positive effect
of the sector attracting labour from lower productivity sectors
like Agriculture and Manufacturing.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0
2
4
26. 6
8
10
12
14
16
18
1988-89 1991-92 1994-95 1997-98 2000-01 2003-04 2006-07
2009-10 2012-13 2015-16
Per cent Per cent
Services (RHS) Manufacturing (LHS)
Construction (LHS)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (LHS)
Mining (LHS)
Utilities (LHS)
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
10
27. Chart 6: Labour productivity growth decomposed into within
and across sector effects
Source: ABS cat. no. 5204.0 (Table 5), ABS cat. no.
6291.0.55.003 (Table 11, supplemented with unpublished ABS
data) and
Treasury calculations.
*There are slight differences in labour productivity aggregated
growth rates using hours worked data in this figure and the
indexed hours worked data reported in National Accounts.
A few episodes highlighted in Chart 6 are worth highlighting:
• The 1988-89 to 1999-00 period, represented by strong within-
sector labour productivity growth
partially offset by the loss of labour from high-productivity
sectors (Mining and Utilities), bares
similarities with 2014-15.
• The 1999-00 to 2013-14 period, represented by generally
lower within-sector labour productivity
growth supplemented by the addition of labour to high-
productivity sectors, looks more like
2015-16.15
• The last two years, when taken together, reflect the recent
declining trend in the share of
Australia’s labour force attached to the Mining sector while the
services sector’s labour share
continues to grow, detracting from aggregate labour
productivity growth. 16
The above observations suggest likely future developments in
28. Australia’s productivity growth.
Notwithstanding the slight return of labour to Mining in 2015-
16 due to the relatively labour intensive
LNG projects in Western Australia and Queensland, Mining’s
share of the labour force is expected to
continue to fall across the following decade and provide a drag
on aggregate labour productivity
growth. But as output in the Mining sector continues to rise
during the continuing production phase
(see Chart 3) and labour moves elsewhere, we expect within-
sector Mining productivity growth to
more than offset the detraction to aggregate productivity growth
from labour moving to less
productive sectors (like services).
15 2015-16 saw a slight return of labour towards Mining.
16 It is worth noting that this reallocation of labour coincided
with the end of the construction phase of the
mining boom, so the combination of less labour needed and
greater output from the production phase means
that productivity within the sector is beginning to recover
(Chart 4).
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
29. 4
5
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
Per cent Per cent
Productivity growth within industries Movements of hours
worked between industries
Productivity growth*
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
11
Chart 7 provides further insights into the relationship between
labour movements into and out of the
30. Mining sector and productivity growth within that sector. It
reproduces Chart 6 but separates the
years where movements of labour detract from aggregate
productivity growth and where they add to
it; and separately identifies the contribution to aggregate labour
productivity growth of the Mining
and services sectors.
Chart 7: Labour productivity for selected periods decomposed
into
within (by sector) and across sector effects
Source: ABS cat. no. 5204.0 (Table 5), ABS cat. no.
6291.0.55.003 (Table 11, supplemented with unpublished ABS
data) and
Treasury calculations.
*There are slight differences in labour productivity aggregated
growth rates using hours worked data in this figure and the
indexed hours worked data reported in National Accounts.
A striking feature of Chart 7 is that when labour movements
have detracted from aggregate
productivity growth (the first and third columns), aggregate
productivity growth in those years (the
black marker) has been higher than years where labour
movements have made a positive
contribution (the second and fourth columns). This means,
essentially, that the within-sector effect
from Mining when labour leaves the sector dominates the
across-sector effect. When labour moves
towards Mining, within-sector productivity growth in Mining is
significantly weaker.
The longer-term samples of the first two columns of Chart 7
31. also highlight the significant role that the
services sectors have played in underpinning aggregate labour
productivity growth over almost three
decades.
While no clear pattern emerges from recent years to help predict
what the next few years may look
like, we expect the foreseeable future to look more like the first
and third columns, with quite strong
aggregate labour productivity growth. A risk to this prediction,
which is evident in 2015-16, is the
possibility that additional labour will be used to take advantage
of the temporary spikes in resources
prices in the shorter term, which would lead to more columns
like the fourth column. 17
17 At the 2017-18 Budget, the assumed price for Australia’s
key commodities exports were: iron ore at
US$66/tonne; metallurgical coal at US$200/tonne; thermal coal
at US$85/tonne.
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
33. Movements of hours worked between industries Productivity
growth within Mining
Productivity growth within Services Productivity growth within
other sectors
Productivity growth*
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
12
Regardless, the Mining sector is expected to continue to be a
significant contributor to aggregate
labour productivity growth in coming years. For example,
despite the Mining sector actually adding
labour in 2015-16 — which contributed to labour productivity
growth in the sector falling from
29.5 per cent in 2014-15 to 3.4 per cent in 2015-16 — within
sector Mining productivity growth still
contributed around a quarter of the economy’s aggregate labour
productivity growth (column 4 of
Chart 7).
Conclusion
Despite concerns about Australia’s labour productivity and MFP
growth in light of the lower terms of
trade and an ageing population, recent labour productivity
growth (driven by capital deepening) is in
line with its longer-term averages.
In addition, there is little cause for alarm over the effect of
structural change on productivity growth.
While the services sectors continue to attract more and more
labour, their aggregate productivity level
34. is similar to all other sectors of the economy bar Mining and
Utilities and their combined
within-sector productivity growth is tracking at similar speeds
to that of the whole economy (in part
as they already represent over two-thirds of the economy).
Indeed, it is labour productivity growth in
the services sectors that has been underpinning aggregate
productivity growth in Australia over
recent decades, and will continue to do so, notwithstanding
cyclical periods of weak and strong
productivity growth in the Mining sector (which is largely
associated with inflows and outflows of
workers in the sector) or other sectors.
While the Mining sector is expected to continue to make a
strong contribution to Australia’s
productivity growth in the next few years, the services sectors
will remain responsible for growth
prospects in the longer term. With within-sector productivity
growth the dominant force behind
aggregate productivity growth, both capital deepening and MFP
improvements will be important to
support future growth in labour productivity in Australia.
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
13
References
Dolman, B., 2009, ‘What Happened to Australia’s Productivity
Surge?’, Australian Economic Review,
vol 42, pp 243-263.
35. Dolman, B. and Gruen, D., 2012. ‘Productivity and structural
change’, 41st Australian Conference of
Economists, 10 July 2012.
Eslake, S., 2011, ‘Productivity: The Lost Decade’, Paper
presented to Reserve Bank of Australia
Conference on The Australian Economy in the 2000s, Sydney,
15 August 2011.
Garnaut, R., 2015, Addresses to the National Reform Summit
(26 August 2015, Sydney) and Workforce
and Productivity Summit (8 December 2015, Melbourne).
Gordon, R.J., 2014. ‘The Demise of U.S. Economic Growth:
Restatement, Rebuttal, and Reflections’,
National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 19895.
Gretton, P., Gali, J. and Parham, D., 2004, ‘The effects of ICTs
and complementary innovations on
Australian productivity growth’, in The Economic Impact of
ICT — Measurement, Evidence and
Implications, OECD, Paris.
Inklaar, R., Timmer, M., and van Ark, B., 2007. ‘Mind the Gap!
International Comparisons of
Productivity in Services and Goods Production’, German
Economic Review, vol 8, pp 281-307.
OECD, 2015. ‘OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators
2015’, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Parham, D 2012, ‘Australia’s Productivity Growth Slump: Signs
of Crisis, Adjustment or Both?’,
Visiting Researcher Paper, Productivity Commission, Canberra.
36. Productivity Commission, 1999. ‘Microcosmic reforms and
Australian productivity: Exploring the
links’, Commission Research Paper, AusInfo, Canberra.
Productivity Commission, 2004. ‘ICT Use and Productivity: A
Synthesis from Studies of Australian
Firms’, Commission Research Paper, Canberra.
Productivity Commission, 2012a. ‘Impacts of COAG reforms:
Business regulation & VET, Supplement
to research report’, July 2012.
Productivity Commission, 2012b. ‘Productivity in Electricity,
Gas and Water: Measurement and
Interpretation, March 2012.
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
14
Appendix A
Data
This article uses two different sources of Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) hours worked data to
calculate labour input. Index data is sourced from the National
Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5204.0) and
Multifactor Productivity (ABS cat. no. 5260.0.55.002) data
releases and is typically used for official
productivity reporting. Levels data is sourced from the Labour
Force Statistics (ABS cat. no.
37. 6291.0.55.003) and is required for the analysis of movements of
labour.
Using these sources, aggregate labour productivity estimates for
the 12 industry market sector, the
16 industry market sector and the whole economy are available
from 1973-74, 1994-95 and 1977-78
respectively.
Sectoral productivity analysis requires levels data from the ABS
Labour Force Statistics. There are
slight differences between estimates of growth in hours worked
using levels data and the index data
used elsewhere in the paper — particularly when comparing
whole of economy and disaggregated
industry sector data — which lead to differences in labour
productivity estimates for a given increase
in real GDP. 18
While improvements in labour quality, for example through
education and training, can be a source
of productivity gains, for simplicity this article uses an hours
worked basis when considering labour
input (as opposed to quality adjusted hours worked).
Industry classification
The economy comprises market and non-market industries,
listed with their availabilities in Table 1
below. The market sector industries are broken up into the 12
industry market sector industries and
four ‘new’ services industries, included since 1994-95.
18 The levels data are stock data (referring to a particular week
38. within the quarter) and will therefore not sum to
the ABS headline figures used in the National Accounts (which
is based on flow data that covers the entire
quarter).
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
15
Table 1: Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial
Classification 2006 (ANZSIC06)
‘12 industry market sector’
industries
‘New’ services industries Non-market industries
Industry data from 1988-89 Industry data from 1994-95 19
Industry data from 1994-95 20
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Rental, Hiring and Real
Estate Services Public Administration and Safety
Mining Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
Education and Training
Manufacturing Administrative and Support Services Health Care
and Social Assistance
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste
39. Services
Other Services Ownership of Dwellings
Construction
Wholesale Trade
Retail Trade
Accommodation and Food
Services
Transport, Postal and
Warehousing
Information, Media and
Telecommunications
Financial and Insurance Services
Arts and Recreation Services
19 While data from the ‘new’ services industries is available as
part of the ‘16 industry market sector’ from
1994-95, output and employment data for these industries can
be obtained from 1988-89 to create the
composite ‘services sectors’ series from 1988-89 used in this
article.
40. 20 MFP and capital deepening components are unavailable for
these industries.
Australian productivity trends and the impact of structural
change
16
Appendix B
We thank Michael Kouparitsas and Daniel Silva-Withmory for
providing the following analysis.
Shift-share analysis
Aggregate labour productivity is the ratio of total gross value
added to the number of hours worked
in the economy; equal to the sum of labour productivity levels
in each sector weighted by the hours
worked in those sectors. Growth (or decline) in labour
productivity can therefore be attributed to
either changes in productivity levels in individual sectors or
changes in employment share in each
industry.
This decomposition of aggregate labour productivity growth is
shown below, by letting � be
aggregate output and �� be sectoral output, � be aggregate
hours worked and �� be sectoral hours
worked.
Output at time t is the sum of sectoral output ���:
�� = �
�
41. ���
Which we can divide through by hours worked for productivity:
��
��
= �
��
���
���
���
Subtracting by previous period for the change in productivity;
��
��
−
��−1
��−1
= �
���
���
���
���
+ �
���−1
���−1
���−1
43. Which we can divide through by lagged productivity the
aggregate for growth rate:
�����
− ��−1��−1
�
��−1
��−1
= �
�������
− ���−1���−1
������
��−1
��−1�
+ �
������
− ���−1��−1
����−1��−1
��−1
��−1�
And rearranging to express the growth rate of productivity as its
contributions from within industry
productivity improvements and reallocations of labour.
= �
��������
47. (���ℎ �� �������� )
+ ��
���
��
−
���−1
��−1
�
�
���−1
���−1
��−1
��−1
(������ ��������)
The first term in the decomposition is the weighted sum of
productivity growth within individual
sectors, where weights are the share of output of each sector at
the beginning of the time period — the
‘within industry’ component of productivity growth.
The second term captures the effect on aggregate productivity
growth from the reallocation of labour
across different sectors. This is a weighted sum of the changes
in sectoral employment shares, where
the weights are relative productivity levels at the beginning of
the time period — the ‘across industry’
component of productivity growth.
48. Australian productivity trends and the effect of structural
changeIntroductionSources of aggregate labour productivity
growthFactors driving historical aggregate labour productivity
growthSectoral analysisWithin-sector labour productivity
growthStructural changeOverall contributions to aggregate
productivity growthConclusionReferencesAppendix
ADataIndustry classificationAppendix BShift-share analysis
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What’s needed to improve
Australia’s productivity
growth?
THE CONVERSATION / Tuesday, September 12, 2017
By Roy Green, University of Technology Sydney
While productivity is once again growing in
Australia, we face a big challenge in getting
it to a level that would restore the rate of
improvement in our living standards of the
last few decades.
Yet the measures required to meet this challenge may
not be the ones usually promoted
76. by economists and editorial writers. We need
innovation not just in the technologies we
use but in our business models and management
practices as well.
The problem, according to new Treasury research, is
that national income growth can
no longer be propped up by the favourable
terms of trade associated with our once-in-a-
generation mining boom.
Does this mean we are back to the hard grind of
productivity-enhancing reform? There
are (at least) two opposing schools of thought on
this. Some believe reform is needed,
but mainly corporate tax cuts and labour market
deregulation. Others deny any such
reform is even necessary.
Read more: Three possible explanations for why
global productivity is slowing
down
What has happened to productivity?
Productivity is a complex issue, but may be
simply defined as output produced per
worker, measured by the number of hours
worked. On this basis we have seen a modest
spike in productivity growth over the last five
years to 1.8% per year.
This is primarily due to “capital deepening”, an
increase in the ratio of capital to labour.
Contemporary examples include driverless trucks in
iron ore mines, advanced robotics
in manufacturing and ATMs in banking.
77. Before this five-year period, productivity growth
was much lower, even negative. This
was especially the case during the mining boom
itselfwhen capital investment was
taking place but had not yet translated into
increased output.
The Treasury paper argues that to achieve our
long-run trend rate of growth in living
standards of 2% a year, measured as per capita
income, we now need to increase
average annual productivity growth to around
2.5%.
This will require not just capital deepening, but
also improvements in the efficiency
with which labour and capital inputs are used,
otherwise known as “multifactor
productivity”.
The hype cycle
Australia is not alone in facing this productivity
challenge. Globally, amidst what would
appear to be an unprecedented waveof
technological change and innovation, developed
economies are experiencing a productivity
slowdown.
Again, explanations for this vary. Some economists
question whether the current wave
of innovation is really as transformative as
earlier ones involving urban sanitation,
telecommunications and commercial flight.
Others have wondered whether it is still feasible to
78. measure productivity at all when
innovation comprises such intangible factors as cloud
computing, artificial intelligence
and machine learning, let alone widespread
application of the “internet of things”.
However, there is an emerging consensus that we are
merely in the “installation” phase
of these innovations, and the “deployment” phase
will be played out over coming
decades.
This has also been called the “hype cycle”. New
technologies move from a “peak of
inflated expectations” to a “trough of
disillusionment” and then only after much
prototyping and experimentation to the “plateau of
productivity”. Think blockchain in
financial transactions and augmented reality for
consumer products.
The world is bifurcating between “frontier firms”,
whose ready adoption of digital
technologies and skills is reflected in superior
productivity, and the “laggards”, which
are seemingly unable to benefit from technology
diffusion.
These latter firms drag down average
productivity growth and, lacking competitiveness,
they inevitably find it more difficult to access global
markets and value chains.
The increasing gap between high- and low-productivity
firms is less a matter of
79. technology as such than the capacity for non-
technology innovation. In particular, this
encompasses the development of new business models,
systems integration and high-
performance work and management practices.
Many of the world’s most successful companies,
such as Apple, gained market
leadership not by inventing new technologies but by
embedding them in new products,
whose value is driven by service design
and customer experience.
Engaging our creativity
Recent international studies have shown that a
major explanatory variable for
productivity differences between firms, and
between countries, is management
capability.
It is noteworthy that Australian managers lag
most behind world-best practice in a
survey category titled “instilling a talent
mindset”. In other words, how well they engage
talent and creativity in the workplace.
Most organisations today would claim that “people
are our greatest asset”, but much
fewer provide genuine opportunities for participation
in the decisions that affect them
and the future of the business. Those that do
are generally better positioned to
outperform competitors and demonstrate greater
capacity for change.
More survey work on this issue is under way.
80. A more inclusive approach
Wages are also related to productivity but not
always in the way that is commonly
assumed. It is said that productivity performance
determines the wages a company can
afford to pay, with gains shared among
stakeholders, including the workforce.
But evidence is emerging that causation might equally
run in the reverse direction, with
wage increases driving capital investment and
efficiency.
This casts the current debate on productivity-enhancing
reform in a very different light.
It may now be a stretch to argue that
corporate tax cuts will be much of a game-
changer
in the absence of any incentive to invest in
new technologies and skills. The same may
be said about the ideological insistence on labour
market deregulation, if all that results
is a low-wage, low-productivity economy.
The populist revolt against technological change
and globalisation has its roots not just
in the failure to distribute fairly the gains
from productivity growth, but in a
longstanding effort in some countries to fragment
the structures of wage bargaining and
to exclude workers from any strategic role in
business transformation. This has
assigned the costs of change to those least able to
resist, let alone benefit from it.
81. The next waveof productivity improvement, if it is
to succeed, must be based on a more
“inclusive” approach to innovation policy and
management.
As jobs change or disappear altogether, Australia’s
workforce can make a positive
contribution. But workers will only be able to do so
if they have the skills and
confidence to take advantage of new jobs and new
opportunities in a high-wage, high-
productivity economy.
Roy Green is Dean of UTS Business School at
the University of Technology Sydney.
This article was originally published on The
Conversation. Read the original article.
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free daily newsletter and find our best
stories on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Global productivity is
slowing down: Three
possible explanations
THE CONVERSATION / Tuesday, January 24, 2017
By Roy Green, University of Technology Sydney
and Renu Agarwal, University of
Technology Sydney
There is a wide recognition by economists
and policy-makers that “the large differences
in income per capita observed across countries
82. mostly reflect differences in labour
productivity”.
Further, “productivity is expected to be the main
driver of economic growth and
wellbeing over the next 50 years, via investment in
innovation and knowledge-based
capital”.
This is what makes Australia’s productivity
slowdown since the 1990s so concerning, as
it coincides with a period of massive
technological change and innovation. Nor is
Australia the only country to experience this
phenomenon, or to be puzzled by it.
A productivity puzzle
Productivity is not an easy concept to define.
Essentially, it is a measure of the
efficiency
with which we can turn inputs into outputs, based
on new technologies and business
models, a capable and educated workforce, and
effective management of firms and
organisations.
During the mining boom, the deterioration of
Australia’s productivity performance was
masked by the boost to our terms of trade
from higher commodity prices. With the end
of the boom, it has become apparent that new
sources of growth must be identified, re-
positioning Australia as a more complex and diverse
economy, embedded in global
83. value chains.
Given the significance of this challenge, the federal
government called in the
Productivity Commission. Its discussion paper
highlights the “justified global anxiety”
that “growth in productivity—and the growth in
national income that is inextricably
linked to it over the longer term—has slowed or
stopped. Across the OECD, growth in
GDP [gross domestic product] per hour worked was
lower in the decade to 2016 than in
any decade from 1950”.
The most problematic feature of this challenge is
that we lack a clear understanding of
why productivity growth has slowed or stopped in
Australia and around the world,
despite a considerable amount of analysis and
debate.
Three possibilities
Broadly, three reasons for the productivity slowdown
have been advanced.
First, there is the claim by Robert Gordon
that today’s innovations do not compare in
scale or impact with the breakthroughs of the 1990s,
let alone the waveof earlier
transformations bringing urban sanitation,
electricity, the telephone, television and
commercial flight, “so it’s the lack of really
profound economy-wide impacting
innovation in the past few years that’s been
the problem”.
84. Against this view, Erik Brynjolfsson maintains that
technological disruption is at least
on the scale of earlier periods but has yet to
demonstrate its full impact, which will
require “a host of complementary innovations, just as
it did in the industrial revolution:
investments in education, reorganisation of work,
new policies”.
In particular, he anticipates “the core technology
of artificial intelligence, machine
learning, and combining it with knowledge in
lots of different areas[will] create new
products and services”. Others agree that “the new
digital economy is still in its
‘installation phase’ and productivity effects may
occur only once the technology enters
the ‘deployment phase’”.
Second, evidence suggests that productivity growth is
still very strong, possibly
stronger than ever, but confined to “frontier firms”.
These tend to be younger, more
innovative and profitable. They also vastly
outperform the laggards, whose poor
performance brings down the average. Here the
productivity slowdown is thought to be
due not to lack of innovation, but rather to a
lack of diffusion from the frontier to the
rest of the economy.
This stems partly from the growth of monopolies
and oligopolies in many industries.
They encourage the “financialisation” of corporate activity
at the expense of productive
investment, particularly in R&D. Another factor
is the uneven quality of management,
85. which can inhibit enterprise “absorptive capacity”, or
the take-up of new ideasand
business practices, even in a competitive
environment.
Finally, there is the view that whether or not there
has been a transformation of
productivity performance as a result of
technological change, it may not be reflected in
the statistics due to measurement shortcomings. For
example, the role of the internet in
changing the way we communicate, assemble data and
deliver services is simply not
captured by traditional measures.
Most economists accept that “what we measure
affects what we do; and if our
measurements are flawed, decisions may be distorted”.
But some go further, arguing
that “the time is ripe for our measurement system to
shift emphasis from measuring
economic production to measuring people’s wellbeing.
And measures of wellbeing
should be put in a context of sustainability”.
We need reform
Whatever measurement tools are adopted, productivity-
enhancing reform will be a key
driver of long-term growth and jobs. It will enable
us to compete globally not just on
cost, which promotes a self-defeating “race to
86. the bottom”, but on quality, design and
innovation as the framework conditions of a
high wage, high productivity economy.
US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen understood
this well in a speech last year on the
role of productivity in restoring global growth:
“Though outside the narrow field of monetary policy,
many possibilities in this arena are
worth considering, including improving our educational
system and investing more in
worker training; promoting capital investment and
research spending, both private and
public; and looking for ways to reduce regulatory
burdens while protecting important
economic, financial, and social goals.”
In Australia, the Chief Economist reports that
“innovation-active” businesses are 40%
more likely to increase profitability, twice as
likely to export, and two-to-three times
more likely to demonstrate higher productivity
and employment.
Yet innovation has been getting bad press, just
like productivity in the past. It was not so
long ago that productivity was viewed suspiciously as
a ruse to make people work
harder, when the real benefit was in working
smarter. Now innovation is resisted on the
grounds that it destroys jobs altogether. While
this may be true in specific cases, it also
creates jobs, and has done so historically.
The problem is that most newly created jobs will
not be the same or in the same places
87. as the jobs that are gone. It has been estimated
that up to half the existing jobs in
advanced economies will disappear or be changed
beyond recognition in the next 10
years. This implies a much bigger emphasis on
education and training to prepare for the
future.
To be credible, a new productivity agenda will
have to ensure that the gains from
innovation are shared systematically across the
workforce and society, rather than
accumulating in a few hands. This is the lesson
of populist revolts over centuries,
including the current examples occupying the world’s
attention. A new agenda will
require a new social contract.
Roy Green is the dean of UTS Business School at
the University of Technology Sydney, and
Renu Agarwal is a senior lecturer in innovation
and service operations management at
the University of Technology Sydney.
This article was originally published on The
Conversation. Read the original article.
Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s
free daily newsletter and find our best
stories on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
88. Semester ONE 2021
Faculty of Business and Economics
ECC5953/ECF5953 Economics
Assignment
Instructions
Due Date: 10 May 2021
Weighting/Value: 15%
Word limit: Must not exceed 1,500 words
Presentation requirements: Students must submit an electronic
copy via Moodle Submission. The submission will go through
the compliance check.
Please ensure the Turnitin similarity score is lower than 20%;
otherwise, your work will be returned, and penalty will apply
As you should be aware, the Moodle Submission has the
Turnitin function which will check the similarity of your
assignment against a wide range of other writings. Please do
you best to ensure the similarity rate is well below 20%;
otherwise, your assignment will be returned for rewriting until
the similarity score is below 20% and late lodgement penalty
(see below) will apply.
Please check the similarity score before you submit the
assignment
To reduce the similarity,
· First and foremost, complete your assignment by yourself and
independently;
· Secondly, you should NOT repeat the questions in your
assignment tasks. Please be noted, this assignment is not a
89. Q&A, but an essay - so please embed these questions in your
essay;
· Thirdly, you may put all references in a separate document to
be uploaded separately along with your main text.
· Fourthly, make sure to upload your assignment coversheet via
a separate link in Moodle.
You should retain a copy of the work submitted until results are
finalised.
Estimated return date: Marked assignments will be returned to
students before the final exam.
Please retain the marked assignment until the result is finalised.
Penalties for late lodgement: There is a late submission penalty
of 1 mark per day (any fraction of a day)
Assessment coversheet: Work submitted for assessment must be
accompanied by a completed copy of the Faculty Cover Sheet
which has been signed by the student. No assignment will be
accepted or marked if it is not accompanied by a signed Cover
Sheet. Your name, I.D. number, and the name of the staff
member should be shown on the Cover Sheet.
Assignment cover link:
https://www.monash.edu/business/current-students/course-
planning-admin- resources-and-advice
Assessment coversheet should be submitted as a SEPERATE
document via Moodle Submission; otherwise, you may fail the
compliance check.
Additional information: Special Consideration: applications for
special consideration for within semester assessment must be
submitted to the Chief Examiner no later than two (2) university
working days before the assignment due date. Please check
eligibility requirements carefully. See
http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html
90. Criteria for marking:
1. Coherence of argument:
Having a minimum of three (3) references (books or articles
from reputable publishers), in addition to the three references
mentioned in this paper: 1%
Relevance to the topic: 4%
Logical consistency 4%
2. Originality 3%
3. Presentation (No oral presentation is required. Precision in
argument and use of terms, grounding in evidence, and clarity
and concision in prose) 3%
Citation requirements: Please follow Section 3.2 of Monash
University Q Manual for referencing and citation.
Details of task
Read the articles
· “Global productivity is slowing down: Three possible
explanations”
· “What's needed to improve productivity growth”
· “Australian productivity trends and the effect of structural
change”
Write an essay to address the following questions:
· What is the difference between the labour productivity and the
total factor productivity (TFP)? Why is productivity
improvement important for our living standard and well-being?
· What are the current productivity trends in Australia?
· Use your own words to reflect the three reasons for the
productivity slowdown in OECD countries?
· Which of these three reasons is more convincing to you?
Explain your answer using a real-world example.
91. · Is there any other reason which might contribute to the
productivity slowdown?
· What sorts of productivity-enhancing reforms we need to
maintain the long-term growth and job creation in Australia,
especially after the COVID-19 pandemic?
Please note: students must write an essay to address these
questions in a coherent way, rather than a Q&A style writing.