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| Title: | South African productivity and capital accumulation in manufacturing: an international comparative analysis |
| Authors: | Edwards, Lawrence Golub, Stephen S. |
| Year: | 2003 |
| Periodical: | South African Journal of Economics |
| Volume: | 71 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Pages: | 659-678 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | productivity industrial production |
| External link: | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1813-6982.2003.tb00091.x/pdf |
| Abstract: | The authors compare productivity in manufacturing in South Africa to a large group of developed (United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Spain) and developing countries (Zimbabwe, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and China). The calculations show that South African relative productivity growth in manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s has been weak, measured either by labour or total factor productivity (TFP), especially in comparison to other newly industrializing countries in Asia and others such as Chile. In the 1990s, South African labour productivity (LP) picked up, but TFP lagged and employment fell. South African productivity remains well below that of the newly industrializing countries, and shows little sign of catching up. Further, the improvement in LP during the 1990s appears to be related to capital-labour substitution. These findings are disconcerting insofar as sustainable long-run output and employment growth depends on raising productive efficiency rather than on capital-labour substitution and labour shedding. Sector level indicators of relative LP and TFP also show that South Africa's relative productivity is below that of the weighted-average for comparison countries for all but one sector. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
