The article about productivity in the Sunday Times observes that “according to OECD figures, New Zealanders have to work 10.7 hours a day longer to produce the same amount as their world-leading Irish counterparts”: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300665457/its-no-laughing-matter-poor-productivity-affects-all-new-zealanders The Irish become highly productive after their population decreased from 5 million in 1850 to 2 million in 1960 - they have since increased the population back to 5 million and still lead the world’s productivity stakes. Surely therein lies the answer - increase NZ productivity so we don’t need to recruit more cheap unproductive labour!
It seems intuitively prudent that the Gov’t/RBNZ strategy of limiting immigration and increasing minimum wages will surely put pressure on business and farmers to invest in assets to increase productivity.It would be interesting for Spinoff to promote some discussion focusing attention on the alternative approaches to achieving higher productivity rather than on the gloom and doom relating to the shortages of low-cost labour. The opposition seems to believe NZ should continue to import cheap labour to keep wages down as a way of combating inflation. Clearly this is the reason why we have dropped down the OECD productivity ranks over the years. On the other hand the Govt’s strategy seems to be to push the wages up so as to encourage business owners invest in technology improvements. Perhaps they will also need to provide financial incentives to businesses who invest in technology that can demonstrate a significant increase in productivity.
The article about productivity in the Sunday Times observes that “according to OECD figures, New Zealanders have to work 10.7 hours a day longer to produce the same amount as their world-leading Irish counterparts”: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300665457/its-no-laughing-matter-poor-productivity-affects-all-new-zealanders The Irish become highly productive after their population decreased from 5 million in 1850 to 2 million in 1960 - they have since increased the population back to 5 million and still lead the world’s productivity stakes. Surely therein lies the answer - increase NZ productivity so we don’t need to recruit more cheap unproductive labour!
It seems intuitively prudent that the Gov’t/RBNZ strategy of limiting immigration and increasing minimum wages will surely put pressure on business and farmers to invest in assets to increase productivity.It would be interesting for Spinoff to promote some discussion focusing attention on the alternative approaches to achieving higher productivity rather than on the gloom and doom relating to the shortages of low-cost labour. The opposition seems to believe NZ should continue to import cheap labour to keep wages down as a way of combating inflation. Clearly this is the reason why we have dropped down the OECD productivity ranks over the years. On the other hand the Govt’s strategy seems to be to push the wages up so as to encourage business owners invest in technology improvements. Perhaps they will also need to provide financial incentives to businesses who invest in technology that can demonstrate a significant increase in productivity.