Raising NZ’s low productivity ratings?
Productivity in New Zealand decreased to 164.21 index points in the first quarter of 2017 from 166.55 Index points in
the fourth quarter of 2016.
For the past 40 years New Zealand’s labour productivity has been slowly but surely falling behind other OECD economies.
New Zealand’s labour productivity now ranks in the lower third of OECD countries and is similar to in Slovenia, Israel
and the Slovak Republic. While we have been very good at increasing employment, we have been much less effective at
extracting value from our collective work efforts. What does that really mean? It means that New Zealanders work about
15% longer than the OECD average to produce about 20% less output per person. Productivity Commission Research Paper.
The subject of NZ’s low productivity ratings will figure prominently at the upcoming EDANZ conference. Experts such as:
Paul Conway, Productivity Commission, Ifor Ffowcs Williams, Cluster Group, Stuart Trundle, CEO of Venture Taranaki and
Ganesh Nana, Director of BERL will discuss what the drivers of productivity are, why our productivity levels are so low
and how our regions can contribute to a more ‘productive’ New Zealand.
The EDANZ conference will be held in Wellington on the 31st August and 1st September.
The conference is planned for the 31st August and 1st September at the Rydges in Wellington. You can check out the programme here or view the conference video here.
ENDS
About EDANZ - The Economic Development Association of New Zealand represents EDA practitioners throughout New Zealand
and is governed by the 14 regional economic development agencies that are NZ's focal point for regional economic
development.