Manufacturing Industry Productivity

The Productivity Commission has constructed productivity indexes for 8 industry subdivisions within the manufacturing sector (XLS), based on unpublished data provided by the ABS. The data has been drawn from Manufacturing survey and census data on output and employment; enterprise survey estimates of investment; and labour force survey estimates of hours worked and employment. Because of data source and methodological differences, the Manufacturing sector estimates presented here differ fractionally from those presented in the Industry sector productivity estimates.

The methodology is outlined in Productivity Growth and Australian Manufacturing Industry.

ANZSIC-based classifications have been adopted for the full period examined — 1968-69 to 1999-00. As the ANZSIC was introduced in 1993, this has necessitated the joint use of published ANZSIC series and ASIC-based information linked to ANZSIC. Where ANZSIC data are not available for the full period of analysis, trends for the closest related ASIC industry have been used to project ANZSIC data backwards. To improve the match between data in this area, the ANZSIC subdivisions: Wood and paper products; Non-metallic mineral products; Other machinery and equipment; and Other manufacturing have been aggregated to form an 'Other manufacturing' group. Because of the exposure of the Transport equipment sector to changes in industry policy, it has been retained as a separate 'subdivision' to enable separate analysis of this industry.

The Annual Manufacturing industry estimates (XLS) cover labour productivity, multifactor productivity (MFP), capital productivity, and capital-labour ratio for the period 1968-69 to 1999-00.

Any use of the data should cite: Productivity Commission 2003, Manufacturing Productivity Estimates 1968-69 to 1999-00, April, (http://www.pc.gov.au/research/productivity/estimates-trends/manufacturing).

Highlights

• The majority of the industry subdivisions saw rapid growth in MFP over the 1970s and early 1980s, with the exception of Food, beverages and tobacco, Structural and sheet metal products and Transport equipment (Figure S1 and Table S1).
• Over the period 1984-85 to 1993-94, MFP growth was lower than it was over 1973-74 to 1984-85 in most industries except for Basic metal products and Transport equipment (Figure S1 and Table S1).
• For the period 1993-94 to 1999-00, all industries improved their growth in MFP, with Basic metal products being the exception (Figure S1 and Table S1).
• Food, beverages and tobacco and Transport equipment had above average growth in MFP for the 1990s period (Table S1).