PRODUCTIVITY is nothing other than the measure of efficiency in the economy. It is the ratio of gross domestic product (GDP) to total hours worked in the country over the year. It is about the quantity of output produced by one unit of production input over a unit of time. Last year, the countrys productivity rate grew by 3.5 per cent, with the productivity level per employee rising to RM61,708 from RM60,437 the year before. Malaysian labour, then, is more productive and is on track to clock up the 3.7 per cent that has been forecast for 2020. However, there is a downside to this scenario: labour productivity in countries such as India, China, Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand, according to the recently launched Productivity Report 2014/2015, is closing the gap, meaning that labour in these countries is more efficient than that of the Malaysian workforce.
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