Changes In Labour Productivity Research Articles

Police management reform, labor productivity, and citizens’ evaluation of police services

PurposeThis study tracks changes in labor productivity of the Finnish police force over a period of thorough management reforms (2009-2014). Theoretically, the study is based on the cost disease hypothesis. It was assumed that police management reforms have had no noticeable effect on labor productivity and that, therefore, the fact that both physical police facilities and frontline employees have been reduced during the reform years has been reflected on the output side: on the number of outputs, accessibility, and quality of police services. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted as a series of longitudinal function-specific output-input analyses (2000-2015). The project employed data from the Police Performance Management database, Police Citizen Surveys (PCSs, 1999-2016), and Police Personnel Surveys (1999-2015). Methodologically, it relied on two different compounded annual growth rate concepts, linear regressions and likelihood ratio analyses.FindingsThe rate of growth of labor productivity was unaffected by the management reform period. In fact, productivity may have declined during the reform process. Citizens’ evaluations of police services have slightly deteriorated over the management reform period.Research limitations/implicationsPCS data are based on quota sampling. The procedure contains random sampling elements but is not fully random. The earliest PCS data lack satisfactory population weights, which is why unweighted data had to be used in this study.Originality/valueLongitudinal studies on police productivity and, relatedly, on the cost disease phenomenon are rare. Yet, the themata are potentially very significant for both citizens and policy makers.

Assessment of the Technological Changes Impact on the Sustainability of State Security System of Ukraine

Currently, the governments of many countries are facing with a lack of funds for financing programs for social protection of population. Among the causes of this problem, we can indicate the high unemployment rate, which, among other things, is due to implementation of labor-saving technologies. The purpose of this work is to study the impact of technological changes on the sustainability of the state social security system in Ukraine. The general approaches to the assessment of the stability of the state social security system are described. The simulation of the effect of economically efficient technological changes on the company’s income and expenses was carried out. Some patterns of such changes are established. The group of productive technological changes types is presented. The model is developed, and an indicator of the impact estimation of efficiently effective technological changes on the stability of the state social security system is proposed. The analysis of the main indicators of the state social security system functioning of Ukraine is carried out. The dynamics of indicators characterizing the labor market of Ukraine is analyzed. The influence of changes in labor productivity on costs and profits by industries of Ukraine is estimated. The evaluation of the impact of economically efficient technological changes in the industries of Ukraine on the stability of its state social security system is carried out. The different state authorities can use the obtained results for developing measures to manage the sustainability of the state social security system.

India’s demographic dividend: state-wise perspective

In this paper, we have tried to record the existing conditions of the demographic dividend in India using state-wise analysis approach. The paper examines the dependency ratios using more refined measures other than the conventionally used. In the paper, we have tried to formulate few measures to calculate the dependency ratios which can give a clear idea of dependency ratio in India. In the analysis, we have tried to find that how far the change in per capita GDP can be explained by a change in labour productivity, labour participation rate and working age-to-total population ratio. The growth of per capita has been decomposed into three factors by using shapely decomposition approach: (1) growth of output per worker; (2) growth linked to change in employment; (3) growth of working age-to-total population ratio.

CHANGES IN LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN THE AGRIBUSINESS IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

The main aim of the paper is to identify the changes in labour productivity in the agribusiness and to define its relationship to labour productivity in the entire national economy of the EU countries. Labour productivity is expressed as gross value added per employee in agribusiness as a whole and its three zones (I – industries manufacturing means of production and services for agriculture and the food industry, II – agriculture, III – food industry). The analysis concerns selected years from 1995 to 2010, which are the most recent available data. The gross value added in agribusiness were calculated by means of the formula suggested by Woś in 1979. As it results from the analyses, despite favorable changes, the productivity of labour in the agribusiness in the new EU Member States remains at a lower level than in most of the EU-15 countries. The main reason behind the differences in the levels of agribusiness labour productivity is a surplus of the labor force in the agriculture in the most EU-12 countries. Moreover, the EU-15 countries especially from Western and Northern Europe demonstrate smaller differences between the labour productivity in agribusiness and other sectors of the national economy.

Wydajność pracy i koncentracja produkcji w polskim przemyśle spożywczym na tle krajów UE-28

Przystąpienie Polski do Unii Europejskiej okazało się korzystne dla rozwoju polskiego przemysłu spożywczego. Dynamicznemu rozwojowi produkcji w tym sektorze po 2004 roku, towarzyszyła poprawa wydajności pracy, która jest jednym z głównych czynników decydujących o konkurencyjności przedsiębiorstwa na rynku. W latach 2004-2014 wydajność pracy mierzona wartością produkcji sprzedanej wzrosła w polskim przemyśle spożywczym (w cenach porównywalnych) z 141,2 do 225,3 tys. euro/zatrudnionego i była już tylko o ok. 10 pkt proc. niższa niż przeciętnie w UE-28. Co ważne, wzrost wydajności pracy nastąpił, choć w różnym stopniu we wszystkich branżach przemysłu spożywczego w Polsce. W analizowanym okresie zmniejszyła się liczba przedsiębiorstw przemysłu spożywczego w większości krajów UE-28 i nastąpił wzrost koncentracji produkcji. Zmiany takie nastąpiły u największych producentów żywności UE-28, do których zaliczana jest też Polska.

Wydajność pracy i koncentracja produkcji w polskim przemyśle spożywczym na tle krajów UE-28

The aim of this study was to show changes in labor productivity and concentration of production in the Polish food industry against the background of European Union countries and the indication of the causes (factors) which caused these changes. Poland's accession to the European Union has proved beneficial for the development of the Polish food industry. The dynamic development of production in this sector after 2004 has been accompanied by improved labor productivity, which is one of the main determinants of a company's competitiveness in the market. The assessment of changes in labor productivity was made at current prices, as well as at comparable prices, taking into account the purchasing power of currencies of individual member states. The method of compound interest was used to determine the average annual changes. In the years 2004-2014, labor productivity measured by the value of sold production increased in the Polish food industry (in comparable prices) from 141.2 to 225.3 thousand Euro/employee and was only about 10 percentage points lower than the EU-28 average. Importantly, productivity growth has occurred, although to a varying extent, in all sectors of the food industry in Poland. In the analyzed period, the number of food processing enterprises decreased in most EU-28 countries and the concentration of food production increased. Such changes have occurred in the largest EU-28 food producers, to which Poland is also counted.

The sectoral and regional economic consequences of outdoor air pollution to 2060

This paper provides an assessment of the costs of inaction of outdoor air pollution in the coming decades, focusing on the market impacts relative to additional health expenditures, changes in labour productivity and crop yield losses. The results show that the global economic costs of outdoor air pollution gradually increase to 1% of global GDP by 2060, with highest GDP losses in China, the Caspian region and Eastern Europe. These economic consequences stem from a combination of exposure to high concentrations, aging population and relatively high pollution-related health expenditures that crowd out other consumption and savings. While the direct costs of these market impacts grow more or less at the same pace as total economic activity, the indirect economic costs induced by these impacts become increasingly significant over time. Numerical results are more sensitive to the specification of the feedbacks to the economic model than to the parameter values used in calibrating the impacts; the most optimistic specifications lead to significantly lower costs of air pollution, but qualitative conclusions on the sign of effects and ordering of regional consequences are robust. Non-market damages, especially the welfare losses from premature deaths, are potentially an order of magnitude larger than the market damages that this paper focuses on, but those do not directly affect the economy. These findings on the costs of inaction of outdoor air pollution underline the need for policy action that would reduce the health and environmental impacts as well as lead to economic benefits.

Optimal Monetary Policy Rule in a Heterogeneous Agent Model With Nominal Rigidities

In this paper, I study the optimal inflation rate in a sticky price economy in which workers are heterogeneous in labor productivity and wage changes are subject to asymmetric adjustment costs. The model calibrated to U.S. micro wage data implies downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR). The optimal inflation rate is substantially higher than stated in the literature in the presence of worker heterogeneity. A key to understanding the result is that DNWR causes an inefficient cross-sectional allocation of labor as well as inefficient aggregate dynamics, enlarging the grease of the wheels effect of inflation.

Structural transformation and economic development in the best performing sub-Saharan African states

Research background: Economic development in sub-Saharan Africa is of paramount importance, yet it escapes most of the attempts to understand it better in the economic dis-course, and it remains a sensitive issue in politics, contradicting stakeholders at national and international levels. The region still lags behind others in terms of technological advancement and economic development. It has grown significantly in the precedent decade, but the extent of growth has not sufficiently translated to its development. Determining strategies for sub-Saharan Africa is a scientific challenge, which requires more attention. In the globalized, interconnected reality, solving problems of the South is in the best interest of the North.
 Purpose of the article: The aim of this research is to analyze structural changes as factors of economic development in the best performing sub-Saharan African countries on the grounds of new structural economics in order to provide policy implications. Methods: Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Gabon were selected as best performing economies in the region. Based on the literature review and the analysis of descriptive statis-tics, profiles of sample countries were set. This in turn allowed to determine the potential explanatory variables for OLS model of economic development. In the model, factors relating to labour productivity, technology and structural change were included. The data was sourced from WDI (World Development Indicators) database, Gretl software was used for computations.
 Findings & Value added: This paper contributes to the literature by attempting to explain structural changes in the process of economic development in the sub-Saharan region on the sample of best performing states. The paradigm of new structural economics provided theo-retical grounds for empirical analysis. Based on the results, policy implications were proposed with respect to technology promotion, natural resources management, and quality of institutions. The research was limited by data availability and reliability.

LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAGES AND LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN AGRICULTURAL AND MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN POLAND

This paper investigates the long-term relationship between labour productivity and real wages in agricultural and manufacturing sector in Poland in the years 1991–2016. In order to establish the long-run dynamics, autoregressive distributed lag framework (ARDL) is applied. Long run causality running from labour productivity to wages in both sectors is confirmed. The yearly speed of adjustment following change in labour productivity is smaller in agricultural than in manufacturing sector and amounts 24 and 37% respectively. Increase of 1% in labour productivity leads to 0.4% higher wages in agriculture, and to 0.64% higher wages in manufacture.

The Sectoral and Regional Economic Consequences of Climate Change to 2060

This paper presents a new detailed global quantitative assessment of the economic consequences of climate change (i.e. climate damages) to 2060. The analysis is based on an assessment of a wide range of impacts: changes in crop yields, loss of land and capital due to sea level rise, changes in fisheries catches, capital damages from hurricanes, labour productivity changes and changes in health care expenditures from diseases and heat stress, changes in tourism flows, and changes in energy demand for cooling and heating. A multi-region, multi-sector dynamic computable general equilibrium model is used to link different impacts until 2060 directly to specific drivers of economic growth, including labour productivity, capital stocks and land supply, as well as assess the indirect effects these impacts have on the rest of the economy, and on the economies of other countries. It uses a novel production function approach to identify which aspects of economic activity are directly affected by climate change. The model results show that damages are projected to rise twice as fast as global economic activity; global annual Gross Domestic Product losses are projected to be 1.0–3.3% by 2060. Of the impacts that are modelled, impacts on labour productivity and agriculture are projected to have the largest negative economic consequences. Damages from sea level rise grow most rapidly after the middle of the century. Damages to energy and tourism are very small from a global perspective, as benefits in some regions balance damages in others. Climate-induced damages from hurricanes may have significant effects on local communities, but the macroeconomic consequences are projected to be very small. Net economic consequences are projected to be especially large in Africa and Asia, where the regional economies are vulnerable to a range of different climate impacts. For some countries in higher latitudes, economic benefits can arise from gains in tourism, energy and health. The global assessment also shows that countries that are relatively less affected by climate change may reap trade gains.

Long-term Economic Development and Employment Changes: The Indonesian Experience

This article assesses Indonesia’s long experience with economic development from 1990 up to 2014–2015. It examines economic growth and employment changes in three sub-periods: the high economic growth period 1990–1996; the Asian financial crisis and recovery period 1997–2007 and the global economic crisis from 2008 to the present. In this periodisation, the crisis years and their impact on employment experienced by Indonesia from 1990 to 2014–2015 will be visible. Additionally, it also examines changes in employment dualism, that is, formal vs. informal employment as well as changes in labour productivity during this extended time. This article shows that Indonesia’s economy performed exceptionally well after the 1997–1998 Asian financial crisis on the back of a continued prudent macroeconomic framework and solid policy reforms. Employment continued to increase and poverty continued to show a declining trend.

Econometric estimation of labor productivity in the brazilian manufacturing sector in the 2000s:

In the 2000-2008 period, which covers the analysis of this paper, while the average real GDP growth in Brazil was 3.7 percent per year, labor productivity in the manufacturing industry had a negative variation of 1.0 percent per year. In Brazil, there has been a “cliché” evaluation of the relatively low economic growth rates in the period as being the result of low labor productivity growth in the last few decades. However, according to the so-called Kaldor-Verdoorn law, the reverse could also be true: low growth rates of labor productivity in Brazil could be an effect of low growth rates of the real GDP. Based on Kaldorian assumptions, we regressed the change in labor productivity of 21 Brazilian manufacturing industries, covering the 2000-2008 period, on three main variables: the real GDP (which captures the Kaldor-Verdoorn law), gross investment to value added ratio, and technological innovation. Our results confirmed the validity of the Kaldor-Verdoorn law, as the real GDP growth was the most significant variable to explain the behavior of labor productivity in the manufacturing industries in Brazil in the 2000s, followed by the gross investment rate.

Employment Growth and Labour Elasticity in V4 Countries: Structural Decomposition Analysis

In the present paper, we analyse the determinants of employment growth in V4 countries. While a standard approach relies on the parametric estimation of labour elasticity coefficients, we employ a novel approach based on structural decomposition analysis. This allows us to identify several determinants which mitigate the effects of economic growth on employment. We decompose the overall change in employment into the contribution of six factors: changes in labour productivity, changes in the import of intermediate products, changes in the structure of production, changes in the final demand structure by industries and by sectors, and a change in final demand volume. We show that besides the generally accepted influence of labour productivity growth on employment, other factors such as structural changes and changes in final demand played an important role in employment changes. These results shed some light on low labour elasticity in V4 countries and go beyond the simple labour productivity growth argument.

Produktywność a wynagrodzenie czynnika pracy: zróżnicowanie międzysektorowe i międzynarodowe

Celem opracowania jest przedstawienie związków między produktywnością a wynagrodzeniem czynnika pracy między sektorem rolniczym a sektorami pozarolniczymi w wybranych krajach UE. Problem badawczy odnosi się do odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy wynagrodzenie czynnika pracy i jego zmiany są powiązane ze zmianami produktywności pracy. Odpowiadając na to pytanie, wykorzystano zarówno statyczne, jak i dynamiczne podejście. Badania oparto na własnym podejściu analitycznym, a odpowiednie dane statystyczne z lat 1995-2013 wykorzystano do weryfikacji hipotezy badawczej. W świetle badań relacje wynagrodzeń do produktywności znacząco się różnią między sektorami i krajami. Szczególnie w przypadku sektora rolnego wynagrodzenie czynnika pracy i jego zmiany jest słabo powiązane z jego produktywnością.

What has happened to Sub-Regional Public Sector Efficiency in England since the Crisis?

This paper estimates public sector service efficiency in England at the sub-regional level, studying changes post crisis during the large fiscal consolidation effort. It finds that despite the overall spending cut (and some caveats owing to data availability), efficiency broadly improved across sectors, particularly in education. However, quality adjustments and other factors could have contributed (e.g., sector and technology-induced reforms). It also finds that sub-regions with the weakest initial levels of efficiency converged the most post crisis. These sub-regional changes in public sector efficiency are associated with changes in labor productivity. Finally, the paper finds that regional disparities in the productivity of public services have narrowed, especially in the education and health sectors, with education attainment, population density, private spending on high school education and class size being to be the most important factors explaining sub-regional variation since 2003.

What Has Happened to Sub-Regional Public Sector Efficiency in England Since the Crisis?

This paper estimates public sector service efficiency in England at the sub-regional level, studying changes post crisis during the large fiscal consolidation effort. It finds that despite the overall spending cut (and some caveats owing to data availability), efficiency broadly improved across sectors, particularly in education. However, quality adjustments and other factors could have contributed (e.g., sector and technology-induced reforms). It also finds that sub-regions with the weakest initial levels of efficiency converged the most post crisis. These sub-regional changes in public sector efficiency are associated with changes in labor productivity. Finally, the paper finds that regional disparities in the productivity of public services have narrowed, especially in the education and health sectors, with education attainment, population density, private spending on high school education and class size being to be the most important factors explaining sub-regional variation since 2003.

Labor Market Adjustments to Shocks in Australia

Labor markets in Australia have adjusted smoothly to significant declines in commodity prices with little increase in unemployment. This paper examines several aspects of the adjustment, focusing on (i) evidence of increased labor market frictions following the commodity price decline; (ii) flexibility in labor input adjustment in response to demand shocks; (iii) changes in labor productivity in the wake of resource reallocation with the decline in mining investment, (iv) and the role of migration in adjusting to the commodity price and mining investment cycle. We find little evidence of increased labor market frictions with the decline in commodity prices. The relatively smooth transition has been assisted by increased flexibility in adjustment of worker hours over time. Labor productivity growth has sustained its historical average through the transition, despite some temporary drag as the economy rebalances. Finally, migration has played a key role in labor market adjustment through the commodity cycle.

Labor Market Adjustments to Shocks in Australia

Labor markets in Australia have adjusted smoothly to significant declines in commodity prices with little increase in unemployment. This paper examines several aspects of the adjustment, focusing on (i) evidence of increased labor market frictions following the commodity price decline; (ii) flexibility in labor input adjustment in response to demand shocks; (iii) changes in labor productivity in the wake of resource reallocation with the decline in mining investment, (iv) and the role of migration in adjusting to the commodity price and mining investment cycle. We find little evidence of increased labor market frictions with the decline in commodity prices. The relatively smooth transition has been assisted by increased flexibility in adjustment of worker hours over time. Labor productivity growth has sustained its historical average through the transition, despite some temporary drag as the economy rebalances. Finally, migration has played a key role in labor market adjustment through the commodity cycle.

Decomposition of temporal changes in construction labour productivity

ABSTRACTConstruction productivity is recognized as an indicator reflecting the performance efficiency and competitiveness of the industry. A large amount of research has been carried out focusing on the decomposition of the influential factors and the temporal trends of construction productivity changes, respectively. However, the decomposition of the temporal changes in construction labour productivity has not yet been explored. Analogous to the framework of the productivity frontier, this research argues for a four-component decomposition of the temporal changes in construction labour productivity, including technology, technology-utilization efficiency, the capital-labour ratio and production capacity. An error correction model is subsequently estimated using the panel data regression method to investigate the effects of these components on the temporal changes in construction productivity across a sample of the Australian construction industry. The empirical results con?rm that the effects of the four components on the temporal changes in construction productivity changes vary over the observed time periods. From the aggregate level, the technology-utilization efficiency and capital-labour ratio across the regions are found to be barriers to growth in Australian construction productivity. Nevertheless, the effects of technology-utilization efficiency and production capacity varied significantly over the three sub-periods, when innovative national economic systems were introduced.