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Labour-productivity Growth and Relative Wages: 1978-1994

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  • Philip Lowe

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

Abstract

This paper uses industry-level data to analyse labour-productivity growth over the past decade and a half. It focuses on the role of the service sector in determining the strength of productivity growth. In particular, it examines the factors that led to falling labour-productivity in the retail and wholesale trade and the personal and other services industries over the second half of the 1980s. In both industries, wage restraint played an important role. In addition, in the retail and wholesale trade industry, measured productivity growth was retarded by the deregulation of store trading hours. At the aggregate level, a number of factors suggest that productivity growth over the second half of the 1990s is going to be considerably faster than that over the second half of the 1980s. The links between productivity growth, wages and prices are also explored using the industry level data. These data suggest that differential rates of productivity growth across industries are reflected more in relative prices than in relative wages. The wage data also suggest that productivity growth in the finance, property and business services industry suffers from considerable measurement errors.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Lowe, 1995. "Labour-productivity Growth and Relative Wages: 1978-1994," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9505, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp9505
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    File URL: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/1995/pdf/rdp9505.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. mallick, Jagannath, 2016. "Investigating the Relationship of Disparity in Income, Private investment and wage rate in Indian states: A Panel Cointegration Approach," MPRA Paper 87736, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 09 Aug 2017.

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