SHAH ALAM (June 25): Malaysia registered a productivity growth of 2.3 per cent last year to RM60,437 from RM59,064 in 2012, according to Productivity Report 2013/2014 today.

Launched by the Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, the report showed the growth helped Malaysia's GDP expand 4.7 per cent to RM786.69 billion in 2013, supported by a growth in employment of 2.3 per cent.  

Mustapa said the 2.3 per cent growth in labour productivity compared with two per cent in 2012 could be attributed to the performance of key sectors of the economy, as well as technological progress, capital deepening and widening, and the quality of labour.

"The launching of the Productivity Report for 2013/2014, in its 21 years running, strengthens the government's agenda to enhancing the nation's  productivity.

"In this report, Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) has emphasised the productivity framework which is based on shared Malaysian values of collaboration, coordination, communication and competency that drives national development agendas such as the Economic Transformation Programme, the Government Transformation Plan and the Malaysia Plans," he said.

According to the Productivity Report, the services and construction sectors performed well in 2013, with labour productivity growing by 4.8 per cent and 5.2 per cent respectively.

However, labour productivity in the agriculture sector declined by 3.5 per cent.

The report added that MPC had formulated recommendations to address the issues facing Malaysia's productivity goals such as to nurture a competitive and productive mindset, promote incentives within targeted industries and strengthen regulatory review to boost productivity.

Mustapa said Malaysia's productivity growth surpassed that of many advanced economies, including Australia (1.4 per cent), Japan (1.3 per cent), Singapore (1.6 per cent), South Korea (1.7 per cent) and the United States (0.9 per cent).

On another note, Mustapa said in the first three years of the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP) implementation, the average contribution of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) to the country's GDP was 19.7 per cent.

He said in terms of labour contribution, the country needed to improve the quality of labour by strengthening policies and offering firms the right incentives to create modern jobs that would attract higher wages and increased productivity through the application of technology.

"Thus, all of us, including those in the government and representatives in trade unions and associations, must make a concerted effort to ensure higher growth with improvements in technology, research and development as well as investment in human capital," he added.