Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): Malaysia’s labour productivity continued to rise in the first quarter of 2019 (1Q2019), thanks to higher employment, as well as higher value added, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said in a statement today.

Value added per hour worked by all persons — including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers — rose by 2.4%, thanks to growth of value added by 4.5% and total hours worked by 2%, while value added per person increased by 2.2%, based on constant price 2015.

Its minister Datuk Darell Leiking said across the five main economic sectors, the construction sector continues to register highest growth in productivity per hour worked at 4.5%, followed by manufacturing at 3.4%, agriculture at 3%, and services at 2.9%.

Meanwhile, the mining and quarrying sector experienced a contraction of 0.8%.

The minister said the construction sector’s performance was mainly due to growth in value added of 0.3%, while at the same time experiencing a contraction in employment by 4%.

Meanwhile, the services sector’s higher labour productivity was underpinned by higher growth in the wholesale and retail trade subsector (5.7%), real estate and business services subsectors (5.3%), and transport and storage (4.9%).

As for the manufacturing sector, its main growth driver was the wood products, furniture, paper products and printing subsector (9.9%), followed by transport equipment, other manufacturing and repair subsector (6.7%); and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastics products subsector (5.6%).

In terms of labour productivity per person employed, the construction sector again registered the highest labour productivity growth at 4.5%, while the agriculture sector rebounded to 3.4%, from the 0.3% contraction experienced in the previous quarter.

The services sector grew by 2.9%, mining and quarrying sector by 2.6%, and the manufacturing sector by 2%.

Growth in the services sector was largely supported by the utilities subsector which grew by 4.6%, followed by the real estate and business subsector (4.2%) and transport and storage subsector (4%).

The manufacturing sector’s labour productivity per person employed also rose, thanks to the transport equipment, other manufacturing and  repair subsector (5.1%), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal (4.1%), and wood products, furniture, paper products and printing subsector (3.7%).

Leiking said productivity growth, rather than the sheer accumulation of capital and labour inputs, is key to sustainable living standards.

“To shift to productivity-driven growth, the industry needs to enhance innovation, identify new high value-added products and services, and upskill the labour force, while equipping them with the latest knowledge and technology. This would necessitate the industry to break away from the conventional ‘business as usual’ practices,” he said.

Leiking said the government continues to implement various initiatives and activities to support the industries to enhance their productivity performance and encourage them to be innovative and productive.

“The government is also focused on increasing the export capacity to enhance internationalization, improving market efficiency to promote fair competition, and facilitating ease of doing business to improve the business climate,” he added.

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