Productivity in manufacturing

Supporting research project

Background

Manufacturing has been one of the main contributors to the recent decline in market sector multifactor productivity (MFP) growth. Special circumstances largely explain the poor MFP performance of other significant contributors to the decline - agriculture, forestry and fishing; mining; and electricity, gas, water and waste services. Further work is needed to identify the causes of the productivity decline in manufacturing.

Objectives of the study

The objective of this project is to examine recent productivity performance in the manufacturing sector, with particular focus on the causes of the decline in MFP growth over the last complete productivity cycle (2003-04 to 2007-08). Specifically the project will:

• analyse MFP growth and its components (value added, labour and capital inputs) for manufacturing as a whole
• estimate MFP growth and its components at the subsector level within manufacturing
• examine factors influencing productivity performance of manufacturing and its subsectors.

See also

• More supporting research projects on productivity and its determinants