Need Urgently: More Creativeity from the Business Class

Via The Globe and Mail

by Jeffrey Simpson

Canada has a serious productivity problem. The statistical evidence is unambiguous and of long standing.”

Heard that before, or versions thereof? Probably not, unless you're a policy wonk. Productivity is a word editors dislike, television disdains, politicians fear, and from which the general public recoils.

It's the great Canadian bore, right up there with Senate reform, equalization and the latest iteration of Quebec secession, tedious for readers, too complicated for television, abstract as a concept, and scary for citizens who think productivity improvements will mean working more for less, or working not at all.

But there it is, again: another learned group telling us that we've got a productivity problem. This time, it's the Council of Canadian Academies (from which the opening quote is taken), warning and cajoling the country, or trying to, about this Achilles heel of our future.

Without productivity improvements, future economic prospects will be, well, middling, especially not exclusively because as the population ages a smaller share of the population will be working to support the larger share in retirement.

Then there's the competition with China, India and Brazil, and the uncomfortable fact that we have hitched our star to the United States, whose own productivity is slumping. That our productivity consistently lags that of the U.S. is now especially ominous, given that country's massive economic problems.

In Ottawa today, a clutch of university presidents, corporate types and civil servants will put their heads together to ponder the role of research and innovation in Canada's economy. The presidents will want more money for their institutions - they are paid to make this pitch, and it is a good one - but the Council of Canadian Academies report points the finger of blame squarely at Canadian business.

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Getting Healthy, With a Little Help From the Boss

Via The New York Times

by Lesley Alderman

Once upon a time, corporations offered generous health benefits as a way to woo employees into their ranks. Now, most companies have turned from amorous suitors into stern parents — shifting more costs, and more responsibilities, to their employees.

According to a January survey by the benefits consulting firm Hewitt Associates, nearly two-thirds of large employers planned to transfer more costs to employees. At the same time, one-third planned to put greater emphasis on wellness plans — programs that encourage employees to adopt healthier lifestyles. (So long, Big Macs).

Congress is climbing onto the wellness bandwagon, too. Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is a leader of the Congressional health reform movement, recently proposed giving tax incentives to companies that offer comprehensive wellness programs to their employees.

The focus on healthier lifestyles makes sense. Unhealthy employees use significantly more medical services than healthy ones and cost employers more money.

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Decline in American Mining Productivity

Via Reliable Plant

Labor productivity, defined as output per hour, fell 6.4 percent in the overall United States mining sector between 2006 and 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

This drop was led by a large productivity decline of 15.4 percent in metal ore mining (NAICS 2122), where hours rose rapidly.

Unit labor costs rose in all of the mining industries in 2007. Unit labor costs represent the cost of labor required to produce one unit of output.

Can we end the recession simply by trying harder?

Via Newsweek

The Avis Economy - Can we end the recession simply by trying harder?

by Daniel Gross

What's it going to take to get the economy out of its rut? Tax cuts, says the right. Public investments, says the left. Some of both, says the center. But after listening to a recent discussion about the recent and distant history of innovation and growth between White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan, and Harold Evans, author of They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine, I began to think that tax cuts and stimulus spending may be secondary. If history is any guide, in order to get the economy back to the level of growth that we'd all like to see, we're going to need a substantial boost in productivity. And prolonged periods of high growth have always been spurred by a game-changing megatrend that ultimately touched every segment of the economy: the steam engine, electricity, railroads, the availability of credit, the microchip, and most recently, the Internet, globalization, and cheap money. Finally, when you're dealing with an economy the size of the United States, you need a pretty powerful lever to create meaningful growth. Having a boom in a few sectors likely won't be enough.

So it looks like we're in trouble. Right now, it's difficult to sense the Next Big Thing. (Of course, that's usually how it goes. Back in 1992, when the economy seemed mired in the mud, President-elect Clinton summoned the nation's best economic minds to a summit in Little Rock, Ark. In the voluminous briefing papers prepared for the event, the words the Internet likely appeared rarely, if at all.)

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Labor Productivity Rose in two-thirds of Industries

Via Reliable Plant

Labor productivity, defined as output per hour, rose in 66 percent of the detailed service-providing and mining industries in 2007, about the same as in 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on May 20. Unit labor costs, which reflect hourly compensation and productivity, rose in 70 percent of the industries, compared to 76 percent in 2006.

Over the longer period, 1987 to 2007, labor productivity increased in 86 percent of the industries studied. Unit labor costs rose in 78 percent of the industries.

Productivity and cost measures for three industries are presented for the first time: support activities for mining (NAICS 213), accommodation (NAICS 721), and reupholstery and furniture repair (NAICS 81142). The addition of labor productivity measures for accommodation (NAICS 721), along with the previously published BLS measures for food services and drinking places (NAICS 722), completes coverage of the accommodation and food services sector (NAICS 72). Measures for NAICS 72 are also published here for the first time.

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Information Source: The World Economic Forum

by Robert A. Jacobson, Chairman, Board of Directors
Association of Productivity Specialists

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization, the source for competition and economic information on countries around the world, committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests.

The World Economic Forum

Be A Copy Cat from The Un-Comfort Zone

THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson

Last month I wrote about Self-Efficacy which is our belief in our ability to achieve what we set out to accomplish. I wrote about how it is the biggest part of achievement, and that we acquire a sense of self-efficacy in four ways: personal experience, observation of others, a positive mental attitude, and from the encouragement of others. This month I'd like to expand on how observing other people achieve motivates us to accomplish more.

Some of our goals require us to reach a mental threshold; some are more physical; while others are a combination of the two. One of my favorite forms of exercise and recreation is mountain biking. I get out once a week and hit the trails. Some of the trails have obstacle course-like obstructions called technical features; they are basically log and rock piles you ride over for an additional skill challenge. One trail has several advanced features including a seesaw.
I rode past this particular challenge for weeks; wanting to do it, but frankly too scared to try.

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"Tell me and I forget; Show me and I remember; Involve me and I understand."

Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. is a motivational speaker and humorist. He works with companies that want to be more competitive and with people who want to think like innovators. For more information on Robert's programs please call 404-255-4924 or visit www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com

Competiveness: The Common Language

Via Times of Malta

from Vince Farrugia's blog

“ Today it’s essential we manage our economy in a measured way. This is my gospel ”
Measuring the Maltese economy's performance against our competitors is very important. The world Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index provides the instrument to enable us to make this comparison. Unfortunately, in Malta we tend to compare with our own performance in a previous period. This is not enough as we might, in practice, be moving at a slower pace when compared with our competitors.

Competitiveness is something we have to work on all the time. Government must have this as its basic philosophy. It is not acceptable that the World Economic Forum places Malta at 52nd from 131 economies, and within the list of the most problematic factors for doing business in Malta we continue to find areas that are within the capabilities of the public service to resolve. Topping the list of issues that are hampering Malta's global competitiveness is the inefficient Government bureaucracy. Access to finance is a high second. Tax rates, restrictive labour regulations, inadequate educated workforce, tax regulations and inflation are also prime issues. These are issues that we must resolve. It's time someone starts using the hard stick. Small steps forward are not enough.

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Labour Productivity Slides as Economy Turns Down

Via Canada.com

By John Morrissy, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA- Canadians were spending more time at work, yet the country's productivity fell in 2008, Statistics Canada said in a report Wednesday.

Nationally, productivity fell 0.5 per cent over the course of the year despite the volume of hours of work rising in every province.

``What you're seeing over the course of 2008 is some slacking off in capacity utilization,'' said Finn Poschmann, vice-president of research at the C.D. Howe Institute, referring to the effect of plants reducing shifts to meet lower demand.

``Productivity is closely tied to where you are in the business cycle, so as the cycle turns down, your productivity turns down.''

If, for instance, worked rises five per cent and output rises four per cent, the country would still log a one per cent decline in productivity.

Declining commodity prices weighed in, as a reduction in the value of goods produced also lowers productivity levels, Poschmann said.

As well, as prices declined, so did the volume of commodities produced, particularly in Alberta, where natural gas prices plummeted, he said.

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Germany Fears Competitiveness Gap Within Euro Area

Via Guardian News and Media Limited

Reporting by Paul Taylor; editing by Stephen Nisbet

BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) - Germany is worried at a growing gap in economic competitiveness among member states of the euro single currency area, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Wednesday.

"The good news is that we are not losing competitiveness in Europe but we fear that other countries are losing competitiveness in Europe. We fear this because it could lead to economic divergence in Europe and within the euro zone," he told visiting European journalists. Steinbrueck was speaking on the day Berlin officially forecast that the German economy would contract by a record 6 percent this year and grow by a mere 0.5 percent in 2010.

The huge slump, by far the deepest recession in Germany's post-war history, was not surprising since the country was so dependent on exports, which accounted for more than 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), he said.

The minister did not name countries that were becoming less competitive but European Commission studies have highlighted how countries such as Italy and Greece have lost competitiveness in the decade since the euro was launched while German unit labour costs have remained stable due to wage restraint and welfare reforms. Steinbrueck said Berlin was making progress towards setting up a system of bad banks to remove toxic assets from banks' balance sheets and allow for losses to be covered over time by a mixture of provisions by the banks and taxpayer guarantees.

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