Raising productivity in an era of sustainable practice

1
Raising productivity in an era of sustainable
practice

• Presentation to
• Strategies for the Future
• National Industry Skills Councils Conference
• Canberra
• 1 June 2010
• John Buchanan

2
Introduction

• How has productivity changed lately?
• How can workforce development help?
• Structure of today

3
Productivity

• World trends (output per hours worked)
• Australian trends
• Multi-factor productivity (overall efficiency)
• Labour productivity (the human contribution)

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Productivity- indicative world trends1
GDP per hour worked, 2007 US100 Annual productivity growth rate 2000-2007
US Germany Japan UK Canada Australia Norway Ireland Greece 100 95 71 89 86 82 135 92 71 2.0 1.4 1.9 2.3 1.1 1.6 1.8 2.5 3.1
5
Multi-factor productivity growth Australia2
Cycle MFP Rate
1964/65 1968/69 1968/69 1973/74 1973/74 1981/82 1981/82 1984/85 1984/85 1988/89 1988/89 1993/94 1993/94 1998/99 1998/99 2003/2004 2003/2004 2007/08 1.3 1.6 1.1 0.8 1.0 2.3 1.1 1.1 -0.3
6
Wage and labour productivity Australia 1978 -
20083
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Wages share of GDP 1978 - 20083
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The workforce development challenge rethinking
labour supply and demand

• Labour supply (people in transition)
• Labour demand (jobs in transition)

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Working life key transitions4
PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS
LABOUR MARKET
RETIREMENT
EDUCATION SYSTEM
UNEMPLOYMENT
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2. Analysis Labour and Workforce Development5

• Labour potential ?

• challenge 1 development

• On-the-job realisation ?

• challenge 2 deployment

• Systems of workforce development (skills
  ecosystem)
• Embodies blends of development and deployment
• Embedded in dynamics of labour market
  segmentation macro flows of production and
  consumption

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Guide to the day

• Reflecting on new directions
• Showcasing new initiatives
• Moving the beyond the there is no alternative
  mindset of the last 30 years

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References

1. L Mishel, J Bernstein and H Shierholz, The State
   of working America, Cornell Uni Press, Ithaca
   361
2. Australian Parliament, Inquiry into the level of
   productivity growth in the Australian economy, 28
   April, 2010 (and Quiggin, J (2006), Stories
   about Productivity,  Australian Bulletin of
   Labour, Vol 32, no 1 2006, pages 18 26. See
   also http//www.pc.au/research/productivity/estima
   tes- trends/recent-movements.
3. Material from ABS, A System of National Accounts,
   2007 -08. Graph initially prepared by Bill
   Mitchell and reproduced by Serena Yu
4. G Schmids notion of Transitional Labour Markets
   is summarised in ACIRRT, Australia at work Just
   managaing?, Prentice Hall, Sydney, 1999
5. These ideas about workforce development are
   summarised, for example, in I Watson et al,
   Fragmented Futures new challenges in working
   life, Federation Press, Sydney, 2003 Chapter 10.