Slight Uptick in Productivity for Australia, but Long Term Growth Still Wanting

A recent uptick in Australia’s labour productivity has been welcomed, but the Productivity Commission is still cautious given the country has endured nearly a year of low productivity. According to the Productivity Commission’s Dec. 20 bulletin, labour productivity rose 0.9 percent in the September quarter for the first time since March 2022. However, labour productivity was still down overall by 2.1 percent through the 12 months to September 2023. The increase in productivity has been attributed to a 0.7 percent decline in hours worked, along with a slight growth of 0.2 percent in GDP during the September quarter. “The amount of hours worked has increased every month since September 2021. Now that growth in hours worked appears to have peaked without an accompanying decline in output, productivity has slightly recovered,” the Commission’s Deputy Chair Alex Robson said....