Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Labour productivity'

My work consists in three papers in which I analyze different aspects regarding the effects of increased productivity of labour. I progressively increase the "range" of my analysis: I start considering a partial equilibrium framework, where a limited number of firms compete using innovation as a competitive threat; I then consider a general equilibrium setting in order to investigate the effects of increased productivity of labour over employment rate, wages and welfare spending; I finally consider a system dynamic approach to simulate the long-run effects over employment and other macroeconomic variable of increasing productivity assuming a trade-off between labour and energy efficiency.

An analytical approach for explaining the variability in labour intensive construction operations has been developed. A consistent method of collecting productivity developed jointly at the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Dundee has been refined and tested. Data has been collected daily from seven Scottish sites for continuous periods of up to 3 months. Not only productivity but many of the factors affecting it have been measured. A comprehensive, computerised database has been designed to facilitate data storage and manipulation. The quantification of the impact of each individual factor is based on the assumption that deviations from an operative?s normal output arise because of disturbances imposed by a multiplicity of site factors. The impact of each individual factor causes the average daily productivity to change.

The main objective of the present thesis is to analyze the underperformance of labour productivity growth in manufacturing in EU member states and the existence of persistent differences among them in the last decades in comparison to behaviour of other advanced economies as United States. This objective can be decomposed into three sub-objectives. So first, we conduct a comparative analysis of differences in labour productivity growth in manufacturing and next, we try to find out if the differences in labour productivity are due to changes in the industrial structure, to labour productivity deficiencies itself or a combination of both. Finally, in the context where knowledge is an important driver of economic growth and competitiveness in advanced economies, and as intangible assets are considered as “knowledge capital”, we examine the role of investment in intangible assets as contributor to labour productivity growth. The purpose is to identify which intangible assets contribute most to labour productivity growth. To this end, different methodologies have been implemented; firstly a decomposition of gross value added per capita in its main determinants, secondly, we computed two indexes: a structural change index and an index of differences in manufacture’s composition. Thirdly, two different methodologies consisting of a decomposition of aggregate productivity differences into different sources have been implemented. And finally, in order to estimate the contribution of an increase in investment in intangible assets to the growth of labour productivity, a production function Cobb-Douglas has been estimated. The main findings are as follows: differences in labour productivity between the “periphery” Spain and the “centre” Germany are cross-sectional as well as within sectors. Next, industry structure is changing too slowly and is misguided; it does not totally justify the gap in productivity between both countries. Thirdly, intangible assets belonging to the category economic competencies are the main drivers of labour productivity growth, but their effect is not homogeneous. Finally, the existence of heterogeneous effects of investment in intangibles should be taken into account in the design of strategic industrial policy measures.

An increase in the global competitiveness has forced manufacturing organisations to re-look their facility from a labour productivity standpoint. Leveraging a manufacturing operation into a competitive avantage must at all times support the organisation’s objective. It is therefore critical that the operation reviews its strategy so that it fulfils the ever changing needs in the market. Purpose – The main objective of this research is to identify the critical success factors to improve direct labour efficiency within Johnson Controls Automotive South Africa (Pty) Ltd (JCI). Design/methodology/approach – A combination of a comprehensive literature review and visits to the Uitenhage plant and head office were employed in the study. JCI practices were observed to highlight the level of direct labour productivity. This was followed by interviewing relevant and key personel who had an involvement in achieving direct labour productivity in the plant. A questionnaire-based research approach was adopted for this purpose and a total of 83 valid survey responses were received from staff in the Uitenhage plant, together with head office staff who directly supported the plant. The questionnaire was designed to identify and test perceptions of employees, regarding the factors of production, identified as sub variables. The research aim was to determine the most practical and effective strategies to improve direct labour productivity. Results were analysed and interpreted after which recommendations were formulated. Findings – Several critical success factors identified as sub variables were tested to understand their impact on direct labour productivity. Empirical results showed that organisational culture, leadership culture, employee engagement, communication and skills, development and training, had a significant effect on direct labour productivity. Respective ratings of these elements were discussed with the focus of improving this going forward. Research limitations/implications – Continued scepticim within JCI about the benefits of direct labour productivity to their business is one of the fundamental limitations this research faces. Originality/value – The novelty of the research project stems from the realization of key factors contributing to the improvement of direct labour productivity within the JCI enviroment. The results would provide JCI with indicators and guidelines for a successful implementation of direct labour productivity initiatives in the Uitenhage plant.

Many households in less developed countries suffer from food insecurity which is unreliable access to a sufficient quantity of nutritious food. It is a major cause of malnutrition, and may lead to reduced worker capacity and low productivity. This study examines the impact of nutrient intake on the productivity of rice-producing households in Thailand. There are three objectives: first, to analyse the relationship between nutrient intake and labour productivity; second, to examine factors affecting the nutrition-labour productivity relationship; and third, to study the links between nutrition, labour productivity and food security. Agricultural household models are used to examine decision-making behaviour, namely production, consumption, and labour allocation. The efficiency wage hypothesis is also examined where an increase in nutrient consumption increases labour productivity. Accordingly, labour is determined by caloric consumption, and nutrition affects productivity. The empirical study adopts econometric methods with data from Thailand's Socio-Economic Survey for 2011 for 2,781 rice-farming households. A semi-log wage equation and a Cobb-Douglas production function are estimated; and a logit model is used to examine the determinants of food security on the production-consumption relationship. Results from the wage equation show that increasing consumption of calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C and iron increase household income, while increasing calorie intake reduces income. An increase in the consumption of grains and starches reduces income, whereas extra consumption of meat and poultry, fruits, vegetables and nuts lead to an increase in income. Male household heads earn more than female heads. Higher levels of education, age, the dependency ratio, and farm size increase income. In the production function, all nutrients affect farm productivity positively which supports the efficiency wage hypothesis. The logit results show that income, education, food expenditure, owning livestock, production for own-consumption, farm size, fertiliser use, and the use of family labour improve food-security; while household size, the dependency ratio, and total household expenditure do not. In conclusion, enhancing micronutrient intake is an investment for improving productivity. The Thai government should focus on building awareness of nutrition in diet and provide dietary guidelines. Food quality and safety standards should be promoted to improve accessibility to nutritious foods. Policies on vitamin and mineral fortification of processed foods, including cooking oils, flours, salt, and sweetness additives, could be designed to improve nutrient-content.

Cette thèse porte sur le rôle des données individuelles d’entreprises pour expliquer la dynamique de la productivité à travers quatre chapitres : 1) Dans la plupart des estimations, la PGF est procyclique, avec des rendements d’échelle croissants à court terme. En prenant en compte l’utilisation des facteurs de production, et en particulier la durée d’utilisation des équipements, on estime des rendements d’échelle constants. 2) Les données individuelles permettent de mesure la convergence de la productivité entre entreprises, qui est une composante importante de la dynamique de la productivité au niveau macroéconomique, surtout en France. Une convergence significative est mise en évidence, qui cependant a ralenti dans la deuxième moitié des années 1990 : les entreprises déjà très productives ont plus bénéficié des TIC et de la globalisation, tandis que le renforcement de la concurrence a stimulé l’innovation de ces firmes et l’a découragé dans les autres. 3) La relation entre les barrières à l’entrée, la concurrence et la productivité dans le secteur des services est étudiée. Les données d’entreprises permettent d’isoler l’impact des barrières à l’entrée sur la concurrence, telle que reflétée par le mark-up, et de la concurrence sur la productivité. 4) Le rôle des relations sociales a été mis en évidence principalement sur des études de cas. Au travers d’une enquête originale, il est montré que des relations sociales dégradées ont un impact négatif sur la productivité, mais seulement quand elles peuvent utiliser des contraintes réglementaires. Au contraire, les accords de firmes ou de branche rendent possibles de surmonter les contraintes de la régulation
This thesis emphasises the role of individual firm data in explaining the dynamics of productivity through four chapters: 1) It contributes to the correct measurement of total factor productivity (TFP). In most estimates, TFP is procyclical, displaying increasing return to scale in the short run. Imperfect competition may be one explanation for this stylised fact. However, taking correctly into account factor utilisation, and in particular capital operating time, leads to estimating constant returns to scale. 2) Individual firm data allows to measure convergence of productivity among firms, which is an important component of productivity dynamics at the macroeconomic level, especially in France. A significant convergence is found, which however has slowed during the 2nd half of the 1990s : already highly-productive firms have benefitted the most from ICT and globalisation, while increasing competition fostered innovation in these firms. 3) The relationship between regulation, and more precisely barrieto entry, competition and productivity in the service sector is addressed. Indeed, regulation has a complex impact on productivity, which can run through different channels. Individual firm data allows isolating the impact of barriers to entry on competition, as reflected by mark-ups, and then of competition on productivity. 4) The role of labour relations has been emphasised mostly through case studies. Through an original firm-level survey, deteriorated labour relations are shown to have a negative impact on productivity, but only when they can rely on regulation. On the contrary, branch or firm agreements make it possible to overcome the constraints of regulation

Productivity has for many years been an issue for the construction industry in Singapore. The industry is deeply concerned that construction productivity is not only below that of the manufacturing sector, but is also below the national average. The industry has identified several factors that have impeded construction productivity, namely, a shortage of suitably trained, skilled supervisors and workers; a weakening local construction workforce; and a large, mostly unskilled and transient pool of foreign workers. The main objective of the research programme was to assist contractors improve their site productivity performance. A three-pronged approach was adopted, comprising a review of current construction productivity issues affecting the Singapore construction industry; a survey of top civil engineering and building contractors to understand their perceptions on productivity; and a study of measurement techniques of site productivity for on-going building projects. The first phase of the research programme comprised a comprehensive study of construction productivity issues in the Singapore context, followed by an extensive questionnaire survey. The objective of the survey was to identify the perceptions of senior management of large civil engineering and building contractors with regard to: factors that would improve construction productivity; and problems encountered at construction sites. This phase of the research resulted in several recommendations to be made to industry in order to improve construction productivity. These recommendations included the recruitment and training of a new generation of skilled local workers; continuous upgrading of management and technical skills of supervisory staff; the study of long-term viability of construction automation processes; promotion of buildable designs; and extensive use of prefabrication to replace labour intensive operations. The second phase of the research comprised a study of productivity measurement techniques for various on-going building projects in Singapore. Two areas were investigated, namely: measurement of overall site productivity of projects on a monthly basis; and measurement of labour productivity of formwork, reinforcement and concreting operations. A prescribed productivity equation was used for measuring overall productivity, and data included monthly site manpower and monthly progress payments certified by the project consultants. Three categorises of building projects were investigated, namely commercial buildings, public residential buildings and private residential buildings. The findings of the research revealed that public housing projects, being simpler to construct, had higher productivity levels as compared to the other two categories of buildings. Research showed that for individual projects, the monthly productivity figures depended on the value of work done for the month. The productivity figures for commercial and private residential projects, were directly proportional to the architectural manpower used. An increase in architectural manpower would mean more activity in the high cost value architectural works which would increase the productivity figures by pushing up the monthly progress payments. It was also observed that productivity figures were generally lower at the start of the projects, due to the learning curve effect and the fact that manpower needed was mainly for structural works, which had a lower cost value than the architectural works. In the productivity studies of formwork, reinforcement and concreting operations, the research aimed to measure the manpower needed for each of the above trades in order to complete individual typical floors of selected buildings. This would enable a comparison of productivity figures on a floor to floor basis for each of the above three structural trades. The second phase of the research confirmed that it is possible for contractors to monitor site productivity of current building projects, study the variations in monthly productivity values and compare productivity performance of various projects within the same building category as well as for different categories.

The research explored ways for improving maintenance labour productivity and reducing maintenance costs. This can be achieved through reducing the number of maintenance activities and by improving the productivity of labour carrying out repair and maintenance tasks. The research established that Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) techniques, in particular, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) could be applied to building systems, in this case to the maintenance of Rainwater Goods to identify the most applicable and cost effective maintenance strategy. As a result it was found that while 60% of failure modes identified could be rectified by employing a Failure-Based Maintenance strategy, 40% of the failure modes require a Condition-Based Maintenance strategy which is not currently applied. Labour productivity is a subject of tremendous interest to research in the construction industry; the study found however, very little research on the productivity of labour in building repair and maintenance operations. It was found that measurement of building maintenance labour productivity has not been the focus of any previous studies. Indeed no measures of productivity for building maintenance were identified. Having considered a number of alternative measures, the research identified the productivity index expressed in terms of Estimated Hours/Actual hours to be the most appropriate measure of labour productivity in repair and maintenance operations. Using this measure, it was established that labour productivity is impacted by a number of variables including task performance, labour performance, material usage and seasonal variability. Among the objectives of the research was to identify the factors influencing labour productivity. Through a survey questionnaire, it was possible to identify the factors that have the greatest impact on maintenance labour productivity; these were the level of skills and motivation of workmen; quality of information and work instructions; labour turnover and absenteeism; availability of tools and material, and access to the job site. The analysis of historical repairs data from two building repair and maintenance organisations revealed that during the performance of the same tasks, one of the data sources was almost 25% more productive than the other. The research has established that there is a potential for improving labour productivity carrying out building repair and maintenance.

This thesis examines the theoretical and empirical relationship between trade unions and productivity in the Korean auto and cement manufacturing industries, during the 1980s. It challenges the tenets of the existing debate by stressing the contingent nature of this relationship. In particular this thesis pinpoints inadequacies of econometric analysis as the only method of judging this association between union presence and productivity, because this ignores national and historical industrial relations contexts. Moreover, the polarity between positive and negative views of trade union influences on productivity is seen as needlessly limited, failing as it does to consider the full context of labour-management dynamics within the employment relationship. Empirically, this thesis focuses on the unionism and productivity during two contrasting political periods: the first a time of constraint on union action and the second a period of relative freedom. It examines these periods using a full range of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Of particular significant is the inclusion of attitude surveys of the relationship between the presence of unions and productivity conducted amongst workers, managers and trade union officials. The broad conclusion of the thesis is a rejection of the validity of continuing to examine the relationship between trade unions and productivity without locating this within national and historical industrial relations contexts.

This thesis aims to provide evidence on the relations between productivity, industrial structure, and labour markets for countries with different characteristics from 1965 to 1999. In order to do so, we first examine manufacturing industry production and trade with respect to both technology orientation and intensity, the impact of structural change on productivity growth, and the existence of convergence in industrial structures. Second, this study investigates the impact of labour market and industrial structures on aggregate productivity in manufacturing. While descriptive analysis of manufacturing industry with regard to technological orientation and intensity shows changing industrial structures in favour of relatively more technology intensive production and exports especially in fast growing countries, decomposition analysis suggests that the impact of structural change on productivity growth is negligible for most of the countries. The factor analysis revealed that although a general structural convergence tendency among countries is not observed, fast growing countries have converged their industrial structure towards those of industrialised countries. Finally, econometric estimation results also showed that while wage flexibility is detrimental to productivity in manufacturing, regulations in labour markets may foster productivity growth.

This research aimed at investigating strategies for construction performance improvement in Tanzania. The research established that the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy provides a feasible long term performance improvement strategy. Benchmarking was identified as a tool for initiating and sustaining the TQM programme. Labour productivity was selected as the key construction performance indicator. A framework for labour productivity benchmarking was developed, on the basis of current mean productivity (CMP) and target mean productivity (TMP). Construction labour productivity at macroeconomic level and site level were also investigated. Analysis at macro economic level over a twenty five year period between 1969 and 1993 indicated a continuous decline in productivity expressed in value added per person engaged. Site labour productivity was investigated for eight construction activities on 46 sites belonging to 23 different contractors. Two significant findings emerged in the analysis: first, the variability quantified by coefficient of variation was considerably higher than in similar studies elsewhere; and secondly the distribution was skewed to the left suggesting that productivity was low for most of the operatives. These characteristics were indicative of the productivity improvement potential in the Tanzanian building construction industry. A distribution modelling exercise established that Johnson SB distribution (with shape parameters, 11=1 and y=1) model well represented productivity distribution for most activities. From this distribution, it was established that about 85 per cent of operatives productivity was below the median, which provided a basis for quantifying the potential for improvement. The benchmarking model established that there was an improvement potential of about 133 per cent. This potential was verified through an opinion survey of operatives. Factors that influence operatives productivity were identified through an opinion survey. Factor related to motivation were ranked highest in the survey. Possible influence of various factors on productivity was quantified through regression modelling based on actual construction operation observations. This analysis indicated that productivity depended on productive time which is largely influenced by operative motivation, supporting the results of the opinion survey.

Ma thèse s'intéresse aux politiques de santé conçues pour encourager l'offre de services de santé. L'accessibilité aux services de santé est un problème majeur qui mine le système de santé de la plupart des pays industrialisés. Au Québec, le temps médian d'attente entre une recommandation du médecin généraliste et un rendez-vous avec un médecin spécialiste était de 7,3 semaines en 2012, contre 2,9 semaines en 1993, et ceci malgré l'augmentation du nombre de médecins sur cette même période. Pour les décideurs politiques observant l'augmentation du temps d'attente pour des soins de santé, il est important de comprendre la structure de l'offre de travail des médecins et comment celle-ci affecte l'offre des services de santé. Dans ce contexte, je considère deux principales politiques. En premier lieu, j'estime comment les médecins réagissent aux incitatifs monétaires et j'utilise les paramètres estimés pour examiner comment les politiques de compensation peuvent être utilisées pour déterminer l'offre de services de santé de court terme. En second lieu, j'examine comment la productivité des médecins est affectée par leur expérience, à travers le mécanisme du "learning-by-doing", et j'utilise les paramètres estimés pour trouver le nombre de médecins inexpérimentés que l'on doit recruter pour remplacer un médecin expérimenté qui va à la retraite afin de garder l'offre des services de santé constant. Ma thèse développe et applique des méthodes économique et statistique afin de mesurer la réaction des médecins face aux incitatifs monétaires et estimer leur profil de productivité (en mesurant la variation de la productivité des médecins tout le long de leur carrière) en utilisant à la fois des données de panel sur les médecins québécois, provenant d'enquêtes et de l'administration. Les données contiennent des informations sur l'offre de travail de chaque médecin, les différents types de services offerts ainsi que leurs prix. Ces données couvrent une période pendant laquelle le gouvernement du Québec a changé les prix relatifs des services de santé. J'ai utilisé une approche basée sur la modélisation pour développer et estimer un modèle structurel d'offre de travail en permettant au médecin d'être multitâche. Dans mon modèle les médecins choisissent le nombre d'heures travaillées ainsi que l'allocation de ces heures à travers les différents services offerts, de plus les prix des services leurs sont imposés par le gouvernement. Le modèle génère une équation de revenu qui dépend des heures travaillées et d'un indice de prix représentant le rendement marginal des heures travaillées lorsque celles-ci sont allouées de façon optimale à travers les différents services. L'indice de prix dépend des prix des services offerts et des paramètres de la technologie de production des services qui déterminent comment les médecins réagissent aux changements des prix relatifs. J'ai appliqué le modèle aux données de panel sur la rémunération des médecins au Québec fusionnées à celles sur l'utilisation du temps de ces mêmes médecins. J'utilise le modèle pour examiner deux dimensions de l'offre des services de santé. En premierlieu, j'analyse l'utilisation des incitatifs monétaires pour amener les médecins à modifier leur production des différents services. Bien que les études antérieures ont souvent cherché à comparer le comportement des médecins à travers les différents systèmes de compensation, il y a relativement peu d'informations sur comment les médecins réagissent aux changementsdes prix des services de santé. Des débats actuels dans les milieux de politiques de santé au Canada se sont intéressés à l'importance des effets de revenu dans la détermination de la réponse des médecins face à l'augmentation des prix des services de santé. Mon travail contribue à alimenter ce débat en identifiant et en estimant les effets de substitution et de revenu résultant des changements des prix relatifs des services de santé. En second lieu, j'analyse comment l'expérience affecte la productivité des médecins. Cela a une importante implication sur le recrutement des médecins afin de satisfaire la demande croissante due à une population vieillissante, en particulier lorsque les médecins les plus expérimentés (les plus productifs) vont à la retraite. Dans le premier essai, j'ai estimé la fonction de revenu conditionnellement aux heures travaillées, en utilisant la méthode des variables instrumentales afin de contrôler pour une éventuelle endogeneité des heures travaillées. Comme instruments j’ai utilisé les variables indicatrices des âges des médecins, le taux marginal de taxation, le rendement sur le marché boursier, le carré et le cube de ce rendement. Je montre que cela donne la borne inférieure de l'élasticité-prix direct, permettant ainsi de tester si les médecins réagissent aux incitatifs monétaires. Les résultats montrent que les bornes inférieures des élasticités-prix de l'offre de services sont significativement positives, suggérant que les médecins répondent aux incitatifs. Un changement des prix relatifs conduit les médecins à allouer plus d'heures de travail au service dont le prix a augmenté. Dans le deuxième essai, j'estime le modèle en entier, de façon inconditionnelle aux heures travaillées, en analysant les variations des heures travaillées par les médecins, le volume des services offerts et le revenu des médecins. Pour ce faire, j'ai utilisé l'estimateur de la méthode des moments simulés. Les résultats montrent que les élasticités-prix direct de substitution sont élevées et significativement positives, représentant une tendance des médecins à accroitre le volume du service dont le prix a connu la plus forte augmentation. Les élasticitésprix croisées de substitution sont également élevées mais négatives. Par ailleurs, il existe un effet de revenu associé à l'augmentation des tarifs. J'ai utilisé les paramètres estimés du modèle structurel pour simuler une hausse générale de prix des services de 32%. Les résultats montrent que les médecins devraient réduire le nombre total d'heures travaillées (élasticité moyenne de -0,02) ainsi que les heures cliniques travaillées (élasticité moyenne de -0.07). Ils devraient aussi réduire le volume de services offerts (élasticité moyenne de -0.05). Troisièmement, j'ai exploité le lien naturel existant entre le revenu d'un médecin payé à l'acte et sa productivité afin d'établir le profil de productivité des médecins. Pour ce faire, j'ai modifié la spécification du modèle pour prendre en compte la relation entre la productivité d'un médecin et son expérience. J'estime l'équation de revenu en utilisant des données de panel asymétrique et en corrigeant le caractère non-aléatoire des observations manquantes à l'aide d'un modèle de sélection. Les résultats suggèrent que le profil de productivité est une fonction croissante et concave de l'expérience. Par ailleurs, ce profil est robuste à l'utilisation de l'expérience effective (la quantité de service produit) comme variable de contrôle et aussi à la suppression d'hypothèse paramétrique. De plus, si l'expérience du médecin augmente d'une année, il augmente la production de services de 1003 dollar CAN. J'ai utilisé les paramètres estimés du modèle pour calculer le ratio de remplacement : le nombre de médecins inexpérimentés qu'il faut pour remplacer un médecin expérimenté. Ce ratio de remplacement est de 1,2.
My thesis considers health-care policies that are designed to affect the supply of health services. Waiting times for health care are a major health policy concern in many industrialized countries. In Quebec, the median time between a referral from a general practitioner and an appointment with specialist was 7.3 weeks in 2012, compared to 2.9 weeks in 1993, despite increases in number of physicians over the same period. For policy makers contemplating such outcomes, it is of particular importance to understand the structure of physician labour supply and how it affects the supply of health services. I consider two main policies in this respect. First, I estimate how physicians react to monetary incentives and I use my estimates to consider how compensation policy can be used to determine the short-term supply of services. Second, I consider how physician productivity is affected by experience, through learning-by-doing, and I use my estimates to determine how many inexperienced physicians must be hired to replace a retiring experienced physician in order to keep the supply of services constant. My dissertation develops and applies economic and statistical methods to measure the reaction of physicians to monetary incentives and to estimate their productivity profiles (measuring how productivity varies with experience throughout a physician's career) using survey and administrative panel data on Quebec physicians. Our data contain information on the labour supply of each physician, the different types of services they produce and their prices. These data cover a period during which the Quebec government changed the relative prices of medical acts. I use a model-based approach to develop and estimate a structural model of physician behaviour with multitasking. In my model, physicians take the prices of different services as given and choose the number of hours they wish to work as well as how those hours are distributed across different services. The model generates an earnings equation that depends on the total hours worked and a price index that gives the marginal return to hours when hours are optimally distributed across services. The price index depends on the prices of services and technology parameters that determine how physicians react to changes in relative prices. I apply the model to panel data on payments to Quebec physicians matched to time-use data on the same physicians. I use the model to investigate two dimensions of the supply of health services. First, I look at the use of monetary incentives to induce physicians to alter their supply of different services. While previous studies have often sought to compare physician behaviour across different compensation systems, relatively little is known about how physicians respond to fee changes. Recent debates in Canadian health policy circles have focussed on the importance of income effects in determining the response of physicians to fee increases. My work contributes to this debate by identifying and estimating the substitution and income effects resulting from changes in the relative fees paid for services. Second, I look at how experience affects physician productivity. This has important implications for the hiring of physicians to meet increased demand from an ageing population, particularly when experienced physicians are retiring. First, I estimate the earnings function conditional on hours worked, using instrumental variables to control for the potential endogeneity of hours worked. As instruments, I use dummies of age, marginal tax rate, returns on market investments, its squared and cubed. I show that this provides a lower bound to the own-price elasticity of any particular service. This allows me to test if physicians respond to monetary incentives. I find that the lower bounds of own-price elasticities of services are positive and statistically significant, suggesting that physicians do respond to monetary incentives. A relative change in prices leads physicians to supply more of the services whose prices have risen. Second, I estimate the full model by explaining the variation in hours worked by physicians, the volume of services supplied, and individual earnings. I do so using a Simulated Method of Moment estimator. The results show that the own-price elasticities for services are large and positive, implying that the volume-increasing response of services to their own-price is strong. Cross-price elasticities are also large but negative. Furthermore, there is an income effect associated with fee increases. I use the structural model estimates to simulate the total effect of a recently observed price increase that was offered to physicians in Quebec, increasing the prices of all services by 32%. The results show that physicians would reduce their total hours worked (average elasticity of -0.02) and clinical hours worked (average elasticity of -0.07). They would also reduce the volume of services provided (average elasticity of -0.05). Third, I exploit the link between fee-for-service physicians'earnings and their productivity to estimate physician productivity profiles. To do so, I modify the specification of the modelto take into account the relationship between a physician's productivity and his/her experience. I estimate the earnings equation using an unbalanced panel dataset, correcting for non-randomly missing observations by estimating a selection model. The results suggest that productivity profiles are increasing concave functions of experience. Furthermore, the shape of the profile is robust to parametric assumptions. A one-year increase in experience increases the production of services by approximately 1,003 CAN dollars. I use the model estimates to calculate the replacement ratio: the number of inexperienced physicians needed

One of the main underlying sources of economic growth is productivity. An economy can grow by either accumulation of its inputs, namely labour and capital, or improvements in productivity. The latter implies that more can be produced with the same amount of inputs, generating a greater amount of income that can be distributed among the economy's population. With rising per capita incomes, an economy can provide higher living standards and well-being. This thesis analyses variations in economic and productivity trends among the states of Australia and the USA. It investigates whether disparities in GSP per capita, labour and multifactor productivity among the states have declined (converged) or widened (diverged), during this period. The analysis is undertaken at a national level as well as for specific industries to identify the sectoral sources of the various trends. Further, in an interstate analysis the performance of individual states is examined to identify those that may have had a major role in accounting for the observed trends. The analysis employs both cross - section and time - series techniques. Contrary to earlier studies, this thesis finds that lately the interstate dispersion of per capita incomes and productivity has stopped decreasing. In Australia, once the Mining sector (which is a special case) is excluded from the analysis, the levels of GSP per capita and labour productivity in the various states are found to have neither converged nor diverged. Convergence trends among the US states observed prior to the 1990s have not only slowed down but even reversed into divergence. Divergence in labour productivity started during the 1980s in the service industries and was followed by the Manufacturing sector (and here in particular by the Electronic and Electrical Equipment industry) during the 1990s. There appears to be a belt of states in the West (and a few states in the North-East) which started off relatively poorly but managed to catch-up with the richer states due to an above average growth performance in labour productivity and multi factor productivity. Some of these states did not only manage to catch-up with richer ones but continued to surge ahead, causing the observed increase in the interstate dispersion in recent years. Policy makers, especially those in the states that are falling behind need to develop policies that will lead to an increase in the rate of productivity growth. In order to achieve this they must foster industries, which are conducive to higher growth rates and adopt policies that would increase the productivity of the labour force. These policies will need to create an environment in which productivity enhancing innovation can be sustained. States need to engage in research and development activities to ensure the invention and the adoption of new technologies.

One of the main underlying sources of economic growth is productivity. An economy can grow by either accumulation of its inputs, namely labour and capital, or improvements in productivity. The latter implies that more can be produced with the same amount of inputs, generating a greater amount of income that can be distributed among the economy's population. With rising per capita incomes, an economy can provide higher living standards and well-being. This thesis analyses variations in economic and productivity trends among the states of Australia and the USA. It investigates whether disparities in GSP per capita, labour and multifactor productivity among the states have declined (converged) or widened (diverged), during this period. The analysis is undertaken at a national level as well as for specific industries to identify the sectoral sources of the various trends. Further, in an interstate analysis the performance of individual states is examined to identify those that may have had a major role in accounting for the observed trends. The analysis employs both cross - section and time - series techniques. Contrary to earlier studies, this thesis finds that lately the interstate dispersion of per capita incomes and productivity has stopped decreasing. In Australia, once the Mining sector (which is a special case) is excluded from the analysis, the levels of GSP per capita and labour productivity in the various states are found to have neither converged nor diverged. Convergence trends among the US states observed prior to the 1990s have not only slowed down but even reversed into divergence. Divergence in labour productivity started during the 1980s in the service industries and was followed by the Manufacturing sector (and here in particular by the Electronic and Electrical Equipment industry) during the 1990s. There appears to be a belt of states in the West (and a few states in the North-East) which started off relatively poorly but managed to catch-up with the richer states due to an above average growth performance in labour productivity and multi factor productivity. Some of these states did not only manage to catch-up with richer ones but continued to surge ahead, causing the observed increase in the interstate dispersion in recent years. Policy makers, especially those in the states that are falling behind need to develop policies that will lead to an increase in the rate of productivity growth. In order to achieve this they must foster industries, which are conducive to higher growth rates and adopt policies that would increase the productivity of the labour force. These policies will need to create an environment in which productivity enhancing innovation can be sustained. States need to engage in research and development activities to ensure the invention and the adoption of new technologies.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Economics
Full Text

The aim of the research was to develop and apply improved measures of capital productivity using published airline data, and to evaluate the role of capital investment and productivity in overall airline performance. As well as contributing to total factor productivity, capital productivity is a partial measure, and the investment upon which it is based should improve the productivity of other inputs to the production process, in particular labour and fuel. Productivity ratios require outputs and inputs to be combined and indexed. Index numbers have been developed using weights that are consistent with the underlying economic theory, and also meet various tests (such as reversal and products). Airline passenger, cargo and incidentals were combined using a number of such index number approaches. Capital inputs were estimated using annual lease equivalents which when discounted to the present over the expected future economic lives of the assets resulted gave either balance sheet values adjusted to a common year’s prices, or the total of the market values of individual assets (aircraft).

The private sector in Saudi Arabia has the features of a dual labour market – it relies heavily on foreign labour, comprising around 90% of its employment, with regulated pay differences between nationals and foreigners. In 2011, the Saudi Ministry of Labor introduced the ‘Nitaqat’ program, which imposes an industry quota of national employment on private firms. The policy’s main aim is to raise the employment levels of nationals in the private sector. With strict sanctions imposed on non-compliant firms, the policy has a high compliance rate, but imposes significant costs on firms. Using a dataset from the Ministry of Labor covering the whole population of firms subject to Nitaqat, this thesis uses an econometric approach to study the impact of Nitaqat on Saudi employment, foreign employment and the exit rate of firms. This builds on existing literature by analysing the policy using a difference-in-differences approach. The results suggest that the policy has improved Saudization (the ratio of Saudis to total employment), but at a significant cost to firms, since it raised exit rates and reduced total employment in surviving firms. In addition, it undertakes a descriptive analysis of the economy before and after the policy implementation, using individual level data from 2009 to 2015. This studies the difference in earnings between Saudis and non-Saudis in relation to skill levels, industry of employment and region. However, there was not enough evidence to directly link the results to Nitaqat. Hence, a final analysis is based on a merge at industry level between the Nitaqat dataset and the Annual Establishment Survey to measure the impact of the policy on labour productivity. This uses both cross-sectional analysis and a fixed effects (FE) panel data approach to describe labour productivity before and after the Nitaqat policy over a ten-year period (2005-2015). The results suggest that the private sector has suffered from lower productivity in the short run; forcing the less productive firm to exit the market, while the more productive firms were surviving. Hence, raising labour productivity in the long run.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to estimate if imports of goods at the municipal level have an effect on labour productivity. The theoretical framework used in the thesis is based on the concept of accessibility, city growth in connection to imports, networks and nodes, clusters and economies of scale. Seven independent variables were chosen for the regression, three import accessibility variables to estimate if there is a connection between imports and productivity and Technology Gap, Population Density, Distance to Stockholm and Time. The regression model itself is built on the regression model in Fingleton (2001) but reformulated in this master thesis. Due to high collinearity between the accessibility variables they were added together to measure total accessibility. Regression results showed significant t-statistics for all variables included confirming that there is a relationship between imports of goods and labour productivity.

 

 

Sammanfattning

Syftet i denna magisteruppsats är att analysera om import av produkter på kommunal nivå är korrelerad med kommunal arbetsproduktivitet. Det teoretiska kapitlet är baserat på konceptet tillgänglighet, tillväxt och import i stadsregioner, nätverk och noder samt skalekonomi. Sju testvariabler valdes för regressionsmodellen som är baserad på Fingleton (2001). De viktigaste variablerna i modellen är inomkommunal‐, inomregional‐, och extern tillgänglighet till import. Resterande variabler i regressionsestimeringen mäter skillnad i teknologi mellan kommuner, populationsdensitet, avstånd till Stockholm samt tid. På grund av hög multikollinearitet mellan tillgänglighetsvariablerna estimerades modellen om genom att använda total tillgänglighet. Regressionen visade signifikanta t‐värden för alla variabler vilket bekräftar att det finns ett samband mellan import av produkter och arbetsproduktivitet på kommunal nivå.

Construction productivity is an interesting phenomenon which was an initial study into time and motion. However this remains a vital part of the construction industry today as it takes into consideration cost-savings, a precise timeous delivery of projects and the correct usage of materials. This phenomenon itself is a huge challenge to many companies in South Africa. The construction industry in South Africa is seen as a tool to alleviate the increasing unemployment and poverty levels. The ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has made statements to decrease the unemployment rate and due to these promises, the imposition of the use of local unskilled labour from the local communities has become the norm on the majority of construction projects. This formed the basis of the Expanded Public Works Programme. This initiative has indeed shown a huge success but the programme lacks long-term support. The majority of these workers are taken on short-term projects and thereafter the workers are returned to the unemployment pool. The workers are also aware of the short-term projects and therefore there is a lack of motivation which inevitably affects the productivity on any construction site. This study looks at the challenges faced by contractor's in the Eastern Cape and analyses the effects of the use of unskilled labour from the local community. Questionnaires were completed as a measurement instrument to determine the motivation, leadership style and the communication levels among the unskilled, core and the managers on construction projects. The productivity achievements of the unskilled labour and the core labour will be measured and compared and the findings are discussed.

I examine the importance of human capital for economic development in Thailand during the period of high economic growth and structural transformation (1985-2000), using labour force survey data. The three main chapters attempt to estimate the effects of education, as a measure of human capital, on three major outcomes in the Thai labour market, namely (i) earnings; (ii) sector of employment; and (iii) earnings inequality. I address the endogeneity problem of education using an education policy shift—the change in the compulsory schooling law—that produces exogenous variation in education. The three main chapters adopt distinct modelling frameworks. The details of each of the main chapters are as follows. The third chapter investigates how education increases earnings and the probability of being in the non-agricultural sector. As the education policy shift influences educational attainment in a discontinuous way, a regression discontinuity (RD) framework is adopted to identify the average returns to education and the effect of education on the sector of employment. It is important to emphasise that the RD technique constrains the effects of education on the two outcomes to be linear and to be applicable only to sub-populations. My results confirm significant effects of education on both earnings and the sectoral sorting process. In addition, there are heterogeneous effects of education by gender. The fourth chapter is an extension of the previous chapter. I allow the returns to education to be heterogeneous across education levels and sectors of employment, while attempting to estimate the returns for the entire population. I use a control function (CF) approach and a double selection correction to estimate the sectoral earnings process, while jointly accounting for the choice of education and the selection into sectors and paid employment. I find that the returns to education are non-linear and higher in the non-agricultural sector especially for medium and highly educated workers. This suggests that human capital plays a crucial role in facilitating a structural transformation towards the non-agricultural sector. In the final chapter, I study how the increased primary education completion rate affects earnings inequality. While there exists a burgeoning literature on the average returns to education, less attention has been devoted to estimating the effects of education on the distribution of earnings. I identify the effects of primary education completion on earnings at different points of the distribution, and thus earnings inequality, using a recently developed approach, called regression discontinuity distributional treatment effects. My results suggest that the increased primary education completion rate reduces earnings inequality as the returns to primary education are larger for the poor than the rich.

Increasingly scarce resources within the health care setting have seen economic evaluations become critical tools in informing government funding decisions. While strong methodological principles exist for the measurement and valuation of health care costs, there has been less focus on estimating the productivity related costs of disease. This is despite evidence highlighting the strong impact that these costs have on economic outcomes. Where productivity costs have been estimated previously, limitations in both scope and methodology exist. The purpose of this thesis was to quantify the productivity related costs of all cause premature mortality in Australia using a consistent and rigorous methodology. Estimates of the future working years and personal income forgone due to premature mortality across a number of age, sex, disease and socioeconomic categories were produced. These costs were then applied to determine their impact on the cost effectiveness outcome of a health policy intervention. The foundation of this work was the development of a new microsimulation model, LifeLossMOD. LifeLossMOD was developed to assign a counterfactual life trajectory to each individual that died prematurely in 2003. These trajectories were modelled to 2030 and assumed to reflect a scenario that would have eventuated if an individual’s premature death in 2003 was prevented. The model accounted for individual variability in age, sex and socio-economic status at the time of death in projecting counterfactual events. Premature deaths occurring in 2003 were estimated to account for over 284,000 working years forgone and $13.8 billion in lifetime income forgone, when modelled to 2030. Male deaths accounted for 81% of the total income loss, which was concentrated in individuals aged 35-64 at the time of death. Premature deaths from cancer and cardiovascular disease together accounted for over half of the total impact. Injuries and mental disorders were associated with the highest average loss in income per death. When productivity costs were incorporated into a cost-effectiveness analysis of a health policy intervention and modelled over 25 years, there was a significant improvement in the estimated net financial benefit of the intervention. The results presented here highlight the magnitude of the productivity costs associated with premature mortality, and the distribution of these costs across a number of population and disease subgroups. This may provide valuable information to decision makers allocating resources between competing health priorities. At the broader societal level, these results provide a compelling case for greater investment in population health as a means of contributing to economic growth.

Dans la première partie, la thèse analyse l'effet de la législation relative à la protection de l'emploi sur les flux de travailleurs (embauches, licenciements, démissions, changements d'emploi) dans les pays de l'OCDE. Les résultats suggèrent qu'une régulation plus contraignante diminue le taux de réallocation au sein du même secteur et les transitions d'un emploi à un autre, en particulier vers des emplois permanents. En revanche, une régulation plus restrictive n'a pas d'effet significatif sur les séparations impliquant un changement de secteur ou une perte d'emploi. La possibilité de réintégration en cas de licenciement abusif semble être le déterminant le plus important.La deuxième partie contribue au débat sur le salaire minimum en Europe en apportant de nouvelles données sur les pays où les salaires sont fixés au niveau sectoriel en les comparant avec les pays où le salaire minimum est fixé au niveau national. Les résultats montrent que les systèmes avec des minima sectoriels sont associés à un salaire minimum relativement plus élevé que les systèmes dotés de salaire minimum national, mais cela va de pair avec davantage de travailleurs rémunérés en dessous des minima en vigueur.La troisième partie estime l'effet de la diversité sur la productivité et les salaires en Belgique et en France. Les résultats montrent que la diversité en termes d'années d'éducation est bénéfique pour la productivité et les salaires alors que la diversité d'âge est nuisible. Bien que la diversité de genre génère des gains importants dans les secteurs à forte intensité technologique, le résultat inverse est obtenu dans les industries plus traditionnelles ou dans les firmes non familiales
In the first part it analyses the effect of employment protection legislation on worker flows, i.e. the rate of worker reallocation, in OECD countries. Findings suggest that the more restrictive the regulation, the smaller is the rate of within-industry job-to-job transitions, in particular towards permanent jobs. By contrast, it finds no significant effect as regards separations involving an industry change or leading to non-employment. The extent of reinstatement in the case of unfair dismissal appears to be the most important regulatory determinant.The second part revisits the debate on minimum wages in Europe bringing new evidence on systems without a statutory minimum wage and comparing them with countries with a statutory one. Results show that systems with bargained sectoral-level minima are associated with higher Kaitz indices than systems with statutory floors, but also with more individuals actually paid below prevailing minima. Higher collective bargaining coverage can to some extent reduce this trade-off between high wage floors and non-compliance or non-coverage. The third part brings some evidence on the effect of diversity on firm productivity and wages in Belgium and France. Findings show that educational diversity is beneficial for firm productivity and wages while age diversity is harmful. Gender diversity is found to generate significant gains in high-tech/knowledge-intensive sectors or in family firms, while a negative effect is found in more traditional industries or in non-family firms

The work deals with occupational safety and its importance for an employee. Labour protection is a normative discipline that is studied in order to form future specialists’ level of proficiency on legal and organizational issues in the sphere of occupational safety.
Робота стосується питань охорони праці та його значення для працівника. Охорона праці – це нормативна дисципліна, яка вивчається з метою формування рівня професійності майбутніх фахівців у галузі юридичних та організаційних питань у сфері охорони праці.
Работа посвящена вопросам охраны труда и ее значению для работника. Охрана труда – это нормативная дисциплина, изучается с целью формирования уровня профессионализма будущих специалистов в области юридических и организационных вопросов в сфере охраны труда.

Regional economic disparities are a widely noted characteristic of the Canadian economy. This thesis examines regional disparities in terms of wages and labour productivity in the manufacturing sector. Regional disparities are analysed along three dimensions: provinces, rural/urban areas and industrial structure. Various competing theories are discussed and compared to the findings. Shift-share based decomposition analyses the magnitude and pattern of disparity and controls for industrial structure. Weighted regression is used to combine provincial and rural/urban effects. The findings support theories that emphasize provinces as units of analysis. The rural/urban results gave qualified support to urban theory. Accounting for industrial structure impacted both the rural/urban and provincial results. The regression analysis found the rural/urban dimension was significant; however, industrial structure and provincial effects were more significant. These results suggest industrial location and provincial economic policies can influence regional economic disparities in Canada.

1. In recent years the availability of new industry-level data allowed to evaluate the impact of labour market policies more consistently than previous standard cross-country studies. In this paper an industry-level panel is exploited to evaluate the impact of less stringent Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) for temporary employment (TE) in EU countries. A reduced form model is estimated to identify the overall effect on labour productivity growth. The advantage of using industry-level data is fourfold. First, as in standard cross-country studies, the cross-country variation of EPL is still exploited. Second, in contrast with the cross-country analysis, the specification allows us to control for unobserved fixed effects, potentially correlated with the level of EPL. Third, as the previous literature emphasised, the within-industry' composition effect' appears to be negligible, allowing us to identify the' independent effect' of TE. Fourth, to the extent that events in a single industry are not able alone to affect the policy in a country, the specification is less subject to the simultaneity problem between variable of interest and policy. The theoretical literature on TE has not established a clear prediction on the sign of the effect, existing different convincing reasons for both directions. Thus, the results of the analysis have potentially important policy implications. Our finding is that the introduction of temporary contracts has a negative, even if small in magnitude, effect on labour productivity growth. 2. Recent papers emphasised as the use of temporary contracts (TE) could have a detrimental effect on labour productivity, particularly because the wrong utilization of TE might induce a reduction in effort. However, there are different reasons to believe that the impact of TE might not be homogeneous across sectors and, in particular, in this paper we wonder if this negative effect differs according to sectors skill intensity. To this extent, we divide sectors between skilled and unskilled and specify a diff-in-diff strategy to identify the different impact of TE. Moreover, the industry-level panel allows us to deal with different endogeneity problems, as simultaneity and omitted variable bias. Our central result is that TE is even more damaging in skilled sectors and this would seem robust to little changes in the skill intensity index and in the sample used. Our main intuition is that the reduction in effort is more harmful in those sectors where production uses skills more intensively. Indeed, this result could have very important policy implications for labour market regulation. 3. The standard analysis of the impact of EPL on labour market outcomes concentrates mainly on unemployment, disregarding the possible effect on productivity. In this paper we make (a component of) labour productivity endogenous and analyze how the presence of a stringent protection legislation affects labour market in an equilibrium matching model with endogenous job destruction. Indeed, considering labour productivity an endogenous could be important not only in the case of EPL, but also for all kind of personnel policy evaluation. In this framework high labour productivity on one hand is costly in terms of effort, on the other hand is beneficial in terms of lower job destruction. We find that high firing costs partially substitute high labour productivity in reducing job destruction and this, consequently, brings down the optimal level of productivity. Moreover, the impact of EPL on unemployment is ambiguous but numerical exercises show unambiguously how higher firing restrictions reduce different measures of aggregate welfare. To some extent, the clear emergence of these results is full of policy implication and, indeed, rationalizes the recent empirical evidence on the impact of EPL.

This thesis presents three essays, each seeking to deepen our understanding of labour markets. The first essay studies the response of real wages and hours of new hires to the business cycle during the UK’s Great Recession. The second essay analysis in how far the assumption of rational expectations in the Mortensen-Pissarides model is required for the economy to converge to an equilibrium. In particular, it asks if it is possible for economic agents to use simple linear forecast rules and still ensure convergence to the rational expectations equilibrium. The final essay seeks to determine whether labour income shares at the sectoral level are constant across countries, as is usually assumed in the literature, and whether this assumption quantitatively matters. Therefore, it takes the input-output structures across countries into account, and conducts a development accounting exercise. Real wages and hours in the Great Recession: Evidence from firms and their entry-level jobs Using employer-employee panel data, I provide novel facts on how real wages and working hours within jobs responded to the UK’s Great Recession. In contrast to previous studies, my data enables me to address the cyclical composition of jobs. I show that firms were able to respond to the Great Recession with substantial real wage cuts and by recruiting more part-time workers. A one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate led to an average decline in real hourly wages of 2.8 per cent for new hires and 2.6 per cent for job stayers. Hours of new hires in entry-level jobs were also substantially procyclical, while job-stayer hours were nearly constant. My findings suggest that models assuming rigid labour costs of new hires are not helpful for understanding the behaviour of unemployment over the business cycle. Unemployment and econometric learning I apply well-known results of the econometric learning literature to the Mortensen-Pissarides real business cycle model. Agents can always learn the unique rational expectations equilibrium (REE), for all possible well-defined sets of parameter values, by using the minimum-state-variable solution to the model and decreasing gain learning. From this perspective, the assumption of rational expectations in the model could be seen as reasonable. But using a parametrisation with UK data, simulations show that the speed of convergence to the REE is slow. This type of learning dampens the cyclical response of unemployment to small structural shocks. Measuring sectoral income shares: Accounting for input-output structures across countries I use input-output tables to measure the labour income shares of the goods and the services sector for a large cross-section of mostly developed countries. I present two novel findings: sectoral labour income shares significantly increase with the level of development, and within-country differences between these income shares are uncorrelated with the level of development. These cross-country differences are not caused by variation in the input-output structure or final demand, but originate at the production-side of the economy. I measure sectoral total factor productivity using a development accounting framework to assess the quantitative importance of my findings. The goods sector of less developed countries is relatively less productive than the services sector; assuming that the values of the sectoral labour income shares across countries are identical to their corresponding U.S. values leads to an underestimation of productivity differences across countries. All findings are robust to different adjustments for the labour income of the self-employed.

Thesis (MEng)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Worldwide the civil construction industry is one of the biggest and most influential industries but has proven to be lacking in the development of technology-aided construction. In contrast, the automotive manufacturing industry is very reliant on the use of highly advanced technology. Literature showed that specific focus is being put on increased technology investments and development of infrastructure in South Africa in order to solve various problems in the country. In light of these realisations, the objective of this research study was to establish a process that can be used to assist technological investments that solve areas of concern in the construction industry. The research was conducted by following a procedure of identifying problematic areas in construction, scrutinising the biggest problem to identify its key elements and finally selecting a decision support model to select technological solutions. The research sequence therefore established the steps of a process that can assist technological investment decisions that solve areas of concern in the construction industry. The first step of this process necessitated the identification of the most influential area of concern in South African construction. A series of interviews and surveys with experienced senior managers in different divisions of the South African civil construction industry showed that the low productivity of labourers is the most influential area of concern in terms of impact on construction projects. Consequently, labour productivity was scrutinised as part of the second step of the process. It was found that there are different methods to measure productivity and that factors influencing labour productivity can be grouped into managerial practices, labour effectiveness and material timeliness. The scrutiny, together with the productivity improvement system and lessons learned from other industries, gave input to the third step of the process, viz. to identify technological solution alternatives for the area of concern. Wireless technology and visual analysis were identified as two groups of technology that could improve labour productivity. The final step of the process evaluated the effects the different solution alternatives could have on a company and a tailored set of criteria together with a fuzzy multi-criteria decision model was proposed for use in this step. The research study identified that there are generic areas of concern in construction and that technology can be used to improve problem solving processes in companies. Furthermore, a generic and flexible four step process was formulated that can incorporate multiple criteria, stakeholders’ opinions, business strategy and the necessary benefits the problem requires in one evaluation model. This process was found to be able to assist technological investment decisions in the construction industry specifically to eliminate or improve on existing areas of concern.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die siviele konstruksiebedryf is een van die grootste en mees invloedryke industrieë wêreldwyd, maar is bewys om agter te wees in terme van ontwikkeling in tegnologie-gesteunde konstruksie. In teenstelling hiermee is die motor-industrie afhanklik van die gebruik van hoogs-gevorderde tegnologieë. Literatuur het getoon dat daar spesifiek gefokus word op die investering in tegnologie- en infrastruktuurontwikkeling in Suid Afrika sodat bestaande probleme in die land opgelos kan word. In die lig van hierdie bevindinge, is die doel van hierdie studie om ‘n proses te vestig wat kan help om besluite rakende tegnologiebeleggings te vergemaklik sodat probleem areas in die konstruksie industrie met dié beleggings opgelos kan word. Die eerste stap van die navorsingsprosedure was om probleem areas in die konstruksie industrie te identifiseer en daarna is die probleem met die grootste impak op konstruksie projekte in diepte ontleed om die eienskappe daarvan te bepaal. Laastens is ‘n besluitnemings model gekies sodat tegnologiese beleggings geëvalueer en gekies kan word. Die navorsingsprosedure het daarom die struktuur gegee om ‘n proses te vestig wat gebruik kan word om besluite oor tegnologiese beleggings te vergemaklik om sodoende probleme in die konstruksie industrie op te los. Die eerste stap in hierdie proses het vereis dat die probleem met die grootste impak op konstruksie projekte in die Suid-Afrikaanse konstruksie industrie geïdentifiseer moes word. Na afloop van ‘n reeks onderhoude en opnames met ervare senior bestuurders in verskeie afdelings van siviele konstruksie, is gevind dat lae arbeidsproduktiwiteit die mees invloedryke probleem area is. Lae produktiwiteit van arbeid is om hierdie rede in diepte ontleed as deel van die tweede stap in die proses. Daar is gevind dat daar verskillende maniere is waarop produktiwiteit gemeet kan word en dat faktore wat produktiwiteit beïnvloed gekategoriseer kan word in bestuur praktyke, arbeid effektiwiteit en stiptelikheid van materiaal. Die ontleding, tesame met die produktiwiteitsverbeteringstelsel en lesse wat geleer is in ander bedrywe, het gelei tot die derde stap van die proses, naamlik die identifisering van tegnologiese oplossings-alternatiewe. Draadloostegnologie (“wireless technology”) en visuele analise is geïdentifiseer as twee groepe van tegnologie wat die produktiwiteit van arbeid kan aanspreek. Die finale stap van die proses het gebruik gemaak van ‘n stel kriteria en ‘n ‘fuzzy multi-criteria’ besluitnemingsmodel om die verskillende tegnologie alternatiewe te evalueer. Hierdie navorsingstudie het daarin geslaag om te identifiseer dat daar generiese probleem areas in die konstruksiebedryf is en dat tegnologie gebruik kan word om probleme op te los en om dienooreenkomstig siklusse in maatskappye te verbeter. Verder is 'n generiese en buigsame vier-stap proses geformuleer wat verskeie kriteria, opinies van belanghebbendes, korporatiewe strategieë en die nodige voordele om die probleem op te los, alles in een evalueringsmodel inkorporeer. Hierdie proses is bewys om te kan help om tegnologiese beleggings in die konstruksiebedryf te vergemaklik om sodoende reeds-bestaande probleme op te los.

Thesis (MTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.
The mining sector has been the backbone of the Namibian economy since Namibia attained its independence. However, the disruptive nature of the numerous strikes that are experienced in the mining sector has prompted this study that explores the perceptions held by different stakeholders on the impact of strikes on the productivity of three selected mines in Namibia. The selected mines are Langer Heinrich mine, Navachab Gold mine and Skorpion Zinc mine. Labour disputes in Namibia’s mining sector have a long history dating back to the colonial era. A myriad of factors that include, amongst others, poor remuneration, unfair labour practices, poor social and housing amenities, perceived discrimination and harsh working conditions are major triggers for mining sector strikes. Strikes are mostly conducted by employees when they fail to amicably resolve a labour dispute with their employers. Employees are normally perceived as the backbone of any organisation. Conflicts, however, are part of human nature and can only be avoided, in most cases, if people are conscious of the consequences of their actions and reactions, hence, the need to explore the perceptions of stakeholders on the impact of strikes on the productivity of the selected mines. Human perceptions are dynamic in nature. Irrespective of this fact, in this research questionnaires were administered to obtain the perceptions of mine management, miners and trade union members on the effects of strikes on the productivity of the three selected mines. A different questionnaire was designed to gather the views of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW) officials since in most cases they are involved in conciliating the disputing parties. Generally, strikes have negative impacts not only on the organisation concerned, but also on the Namibian economy at large. The mines selected for this research are situated in the Khomas, Erongo and Karas regions of Namibia. Most mining companies in Namibia are located in Erongo and Karas, whereas Windhoek, which is in the Khomas region, mainly houses some of these mines headquarters. A five-point Likert scale was used to gather data in the survey. Specialised software called Statistical Program for Social Scientists (SPSS) was then used to analyse the data. Although the results indicate that in most cases the striking parties are aware of the adverse effects of strikes on productivity of the mines, they still opt to use strikes as a bargaining weapon. Since conflicts are always bound to arise where two or more parties interact, this study recommends that there should always be a conciliator who tries to amicably resolve disputes by sensitising each party on the consequences of strikes. The study also recommends a model which emphasises the need to thoroughly inform the mineworkers and the mine management on the ripple effects of strikes and on the need to achieve a win-win situation for all the parties that are involved in a conflict. The model emphasises that although the employees and the employers can individually and separately approach the official, which is the MLSW, such official should always provide open feedback to the feuding parties through a tripartite negotiation forum, otherwise any other type of covert feedback may be misinterpreted as bias by one of the feuding parties. The model further explains that at all times direct negotiations between employees and their employers must be kept open, as it is possible that agreements that can reduce strike action may be reached without necessarily engaging a third party.

This doctoral research is an attempt to improve the understanding of why firms invest in innovative processes, why they adopt them, and how their choices impact on Social Welfare. More in detail, chapter 1 deals with the effect of downstream competition on innovation diffusion (licensing), the market power accumulation of the inventors, and the impact of innovation on Social Welfare. I show that competition affects both the size of the innovation (positively) and its diffusion among the producers (negatively). Also, the results of this chapter suggest that policy makers have reasons to be concerned about the market power accumulation of the innovators, in particular when their innovations are sold to competitive sectors. Consistently with the results in IMF [2019], I suggest that weak pro-competitive policies may be ineffective to tackle this issue, as they trigger the inventors to raise barriers to entry in the producers' sector and reduce the diffusion of the new technology in order to preserve their market power. Furthermore, innovators benefit from competition more than consumers and producers. I show that there is a “subsidy” effect of competition on innovation that makes technologies developed by an inefficient innovator impact more heavily on Social Welfare. Therefore, weak pro-competitive policies in the product market may result in further market power accumulation and lower benefits for consumers. Similar results are obtained by looking at competition as the horizontal differentiation between two products. In the appendix to chapter 1, I add product differentiation as an alternative measure of competition. I show that the incomplete adoption of a superior technology is associated to high degree of product substitutability (intense competition), while large product differentiation (soft competition) promotes the full adoption of the new technology. In chapter 2, I deal with the connection between the wage rate and the incentives to invest in innovation. By means of a model of competition in a vertically related industry, I design technological progress as the introduction of a qualitatively superior capital input in the production process; quality is measured in terms of the number of workers employed together with the capital input to produce a unit of output. When the quality of capital rises, the labour demand is subject to two opposite forces: on the one hand, firms require less labour to produce a unit of the final good and demand falls. On the other hand, by reducing the cost of labour per unit of output, the firms' best reply shifts outwards and their output rises, increasing the labour demand. This trade off summarises the discussion about the effects of technological improvements depending on the type of innovation. Moreover, chapter 2 addresses the problem of what the incentives that make firms invest in labour-saving innovations are. Similarly to Lordan and Neumark [2018], I show that the price of labour triggers new labour-saving technologies. However, results suggest that, under certain conditions, new technologies may increase the production level and, ultimately, the labour demand. Both chapter 1 and chapter 2 adopt a theoretical I.O. perspective, with a focus on innovation in vertical market, in order to investigate the role and the effects of technological progress on supply chains and industrial relations. I believe this research contributes to a better understanding of why firms decide to adopt a new technology and how innovators exploit the producers' incentives in order to maximise their payoffs. This doctoral thesis must be understood as a first step towards a better comprehension of industrial and firm-labour relations. I show how market structure affects the diffusion of a new technology and, more importantly, how it modifies the channels through which innovation contributes to Social Welfare. Finally, I show how labour market and innovation mutually influence each other as well as the forces that operate in order to transform an increase in the wage rate into a larger investment by the inventor.

Mestrado em Desenvolvimento e Cooperação Internacional
Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo delinear padrões de mudança estrutural, para o período entre 1990-2010, na Africa Subsaariana. As alterações na estrutura que transfere a mão-de-obra entre sectores e na estrutura da contribuição setorial para o aumento da produtividade do trabalho são analisadas utilizando os dados do Groningen Growth and Development Centre 10-Sector Database, para sete economias da região, através da aplicação de métodos de decomposição. Os métodos de decomposição permitem um reconhecimento direto da magnitude que as contribuições dos efeitos associados têm nas mudanças das estruturas analisadas, o que permite traçar os respetivos padrões de mudança estrutural. Os resultados obtidos, indicam que o aumento da produtividade do trabalho na economia deve-se, principalmente, às contribuições dos setores de serviços de mercado, embora uma importância acentuada sobre as contribuições e alocações de recursos deste setor possa estar a limitar as contribuições de outras atividades produtivas e o movimento de trabalhadores entre os vários setores de produção.
This research aims to delineate patterns of structural change, for the period between 1990 and 2010, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Changes on the structure that drives workers between sectors and in the structure of sectoral contributions to labour productivity increases are analysed using data from Groningen Growth and Development Centre 10-Sector Database, for seven economies from the region, through the applying of decomposition methods. Decomposition methods allow for a straightforward recognisance of the magnitude that contributions from associated effects have in changes of the analysed structures, what ultimately allows to draft the respective patterns of structural change. The results indicate that the rising labour productivity in the economy is due, chiefly, to the contributions of the market services sectors', although an accentuated importance over this sector contributions and resources allocations may be limiting the contributions from other sectors and the movements of the workforce between the different production activities.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Poor labour productivity is an endemic global problem in the construction industry. In the past two decades, it has been observed over the different sectors of the construction industry that the labour productivity expended on projects has reported a decline, particularly in the building and civil sectors. This research explores the variables that affect labour productivity on construction sites and whether the estimation practices used considers the various circumstances in which buildings and infrastructure are produced. Literature review aided in the identification of contextual factors classified in four categories that affect labour productivity on construction projects. These categories were; site environment factors, organisational factors, technical factors and social factors. These factors were used in the development and design of the questionnaire to analyse the impact of these factors on construction labour productivity. The population of the study comprised of directors, contracts managers, project and construction managers, quantity surveyors and estimators who are employees of construction firms listed in Grades 2-9 of the Construction Industry Development Board (cidb) Register of Contractors in South Africa. The study area covered nine provinces of South Africa. At the end of the survey period, 117 valid responses were received and analysed. The findings of the study revealed that at the pre-construction phase of a construction project, social factors, complexity of the project and organisational factors are not considered in the estimation practices and techniques. Results further revealed that four core factors that affect productivity of labour are; lack of experience amongst workers, delays in the wages of labourers, change orders from designers/consultants and the relationships between labourers and their supervisors. The study established a relationship between the contextual factors and labour productivity on construction projects. Motivation and training emerged as significant changes needed to improve labour productivity on projects. Based on these findings, the study concludes that labour productivity is impacted by contextual site factors such as lack of experience, delays in labour payment and that these are not considered by estimators at the project pre-construction phase. The study recommends that these site factors need to be considered during the preconstruction phase of a project in order to allow for their impact on labour productivity during construction. Furthermore, a benchmark and standard of what constitutes effective labour productivity needs to be developed on construction sites, especially one that is project specific and considering all the four categories of contextual factors and their probable impacts.

The aim of this thesis is to show effects of foreign direct investment on labour productivity in Czech automotive sector in the period 2004-2009. The effects are measured through horizontal spillovers (technology transfer) representing the influence of foreign firm on Czech automotive sector and through Herfindahl index representing market concentration in the automotive sector. Based on models used in this thesis I have found out that between labour productivity and technology transfer of foreign firms in the automotive sector is not significant relationship, but labour productivity is positively and significantly influenced by market concentration in the sector. These findings do not correspond fully to widespread opinion that foreign direct investments enhance labour productivity of domestic firms by bringing new knowledge or technology. These findings correspond only to the hypothesis that higher concentration of the sector caused by foreign presence positively influence labour productivity.

The purpose of this analytical study is to determine the degree of application of Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy and practices in the industrial corporations in Jordan. Through detailed examination of primary and secondary empirical data from these corporations, the study examines the link between TQM and labour productivity. The population of the study consists of all Jordanian shareholding corporations listed under the industrial category in Amman Stock Exchange. In late 1998, this consisted of a total of 90 companies. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed in investigating the relationship between TQM implementation and labour productivity. Detailed survey responses from 76 participating companies were classified into two groups: high-level TQM implementation and low-level TQM implementation. About 60% of these companies were classified as companies with high-level TQM. Descriptive analysis of the survey responses plus company report data found that mean labour productivity measurements for companies with high-level TQM were significantly higher than for those with low-level TQM over the years (1993-1998). Also mean growth rates of labour productivity measurements for companies with high-level TQM were higher than for those with low-level of TQM during this period. Regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant positive relationship between TQM and labour productivity. This relationship showed a high positive slope in companies with ISO 9000 certification, and considerably lower (but still positive) slope in companies without ISO 9000 certification.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

During the years 2004-2014, the manufacturing sector within the EU countries witnessed an increase in the utilization of industrial robots, where robot density per worker approximately doubled. Considering that this is a rather recent event, studies investigating how much industrial robots impact labour productivity are still rare. At the same time, one of EU’s outspoken goals is that of working to foster productivity and economic convergence between the member states. Given the above premises, we have investigated the relation between the adoption rate of industrial robotics within the EU and its effect on labour productivity. Secondly, we have made a predictive convergence model, in terms of labour productivity. We have collected data from several sources, including the Industrial Federation of Robotics and EU KLMS, in order to build a dataset for our quantitative analysis. We have then used statistical methods such as multiple regressions and 3 stage least square analysis (3sls) to estimate our system of interdependent equations model. The results show that implementation of industrial robotics in the manufacturing sector is a driver of labour productivity. The model finally predicts upward labour productivity divergence between the member states in the years 2015-2025, assuming that the determining factors of labour productivity grow at the same pace in our forecast period as in our data sample.
Under åren 2004-2014 fördubblades i genomsnitt antalet industrirobotar per arbetare i tillverkningsindustrin inom EU. Eftersom detta fenomen är relativt nytt, är studier som undersöker industrirobotars påverkan på arbetarproduktivitet fortfarande sällsynta. Samtidigt är ett av EU:s uttalade mål att arbeta för att främja konvergens mellan medlemsländerna inom produktivitet och andra ekonomiska mått. Med ovanstående förutsättningar har vi undersökt förhållandet mellan ökad användning av industriell robotik inom EU och dess effekt på arbetskraftsproduktiviteten. För att bygga en model för vår kvantitativa analys har vi samlat in data från flera källor, inklusive Industrial Federation of Robotics och EU KLMS. Vi har sedan använt statistiska metoder såsom multipel regression och 3-stegs minsta kvadratanalys (3sls) för att estimera vårt system av ekvationer. Resultaten visar att ökad användning av industriell robotik i tillverkningssektorn driver ökad arbetskraftsproduktivitet. Därefter analyserar vi även den aktuella konvergensriktningen för arbetarproduktivitet, och vår modell förutspår uppåtgående arbetsproduktivitetsdivergens, under förutsättning att de ingående faktorerna för arbetskraftsproduktivitet växer i samma takt under vår prognosperiod som under dataunderlagsperioden.
Durante gli anni che vanno dal 2004 al 2014 il settore manifatturiero degli stati appartenenti all’Unione europea è stato testimone di un aumento dell’utilizzo dei robot industriali: la densità di robot utilizzati per ciascun lavoratore è raddoppiata. Considerato che questo è un fenomeno abbastanza recente, gli studi che investigano quanto i robot industriali influiscono sulla produttività lavorativa sono ancora rari. Allo stesso tempo, uno degli obiettivi dichiarati dall’Unione europea è quello di stimolare la convergenza economica tra gli stati membri. Date queste premesse, abbiamo studiato la relazione tra il tasso di adozione dei robot industrali nell’Unione europea e il suo effetto sulla produttività del lavoro. Inoltre, abbiamo sviluppato un modello di previsione della convergenza in termini di produttività lavorativa. Abbiamo raccolto i dati da diverse fonti, tra cui la federazione industriale della robotica ed EU KLEMS, in modo da costruire un dataset per la nostra analisi quantitativa. In seguito abbiamo usato dei metodi statistici come la regressione multipla e la l’analisi dei minimi quadrati a tre stadi (3sls) per testare il nostro sistema di equazioni indipendenti. I risultati mostrano che l’implementazione dei robot industriali nel settore manifatturiero è un elemento motore della produttività lavorativa. Infine, il modello prevede una divergenza della produttività tra i Paesi membri negli anni 2015-2025, assumendo che i fattori determinanti della produttività crescano allo stesso modo nel periodo della previsione rispetto al periodo del nostro campione.

Die vorliegende Dissertation besteht aus vier Aufsätzen, die sich mit Fragen des Außenhandels und der Arbeitsmarktökonomie auseinandersetzen. Der erste Aufsatz untersucht in einem internationalen Oligopol die Interaktion zwischen Handelsliberalisierung, Produkt- und Prozessinnovationen und der relativen Nachfrage nach niedrig qualifizierten Arbeitnehmern. Der Abbau von Handelsschranken führt zu einer Verschärfung des Wettbewerbs, auf die die konkurrierenden Firmen reagieren, indem sie ihre Investitionen in Produkt- und Prozessinnovationen ausweiten. Infolgedessen sinkt die Nachfrage nach niedrig qualifizierten Arbeitnehmern. Der zweite Aufsatz analysiert die Wirkung eines einseitigen Mindestlohnes in einem Zwei-Länder-Modell, in dem Firmen den ausländischen Markt entweder durch Exporte oder durch lokale Tochterfirmen bedienen. Eine Liberalisierung des Handels erhöht die negativen Beschäftigungseffekte von Mindestlöhnen. Dagegen begrenzt die Existenz von multinationalen Unternehmen den durch Mindestlöhne verursachten Arbeitsplatzabbau. Der dritte Aufsatz untersucht, wie sich kollektive Tarifverhandlungen bei freiem Marktzutritt auf die Produktivität und den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg von heterogenen Firmen auswirken. Zentrale Lohnverhandlungen verschärfen den Auswahlprozess und erhöhen die durchschnittliche Produktivität und den Gewinn überlebender Firmen. Stattdessen begünstigen dezentrale Tarifverhandlungen weniger produktive Firmen. Sind die Firmen internationalem Wettbewerb ausgesetzt, so können auch zentrale Tarifverhandlungen die Produktivität reduzieren. Der vierte Beitrag untersucht empirisch die Auswirkungen von Offshoring auf Arbeiterflüsse in Deutschland. Während Offshoring die Stabilität von Beschäftigungsverhältnissen in der verarbeitenden Industrie nicht beeinflusst, geht es einher mit einer Zunahme der Beschäftigungsstabilität im Dienstleistungssektor. Die Effekte von Offshoring hängen ferner stark vom Alter und der Bildung des einzelnen Arbeitnehmers ab.
This dissertation consists of four essays that contribute to the literature on international trade and labour markets. The first essay studies the interaction between economic integration, product and process innovation, and relative skill demand in a model of international oligopoly. As trade barriers are dismantled foreign competition intensifies. Competing enterprises respond by investing more aggressively in both product and process innovation. The relative demand for unskilled workers decreases as a result. The second essay studies labour market outcomes in a model of intra-industry trade between a rigid-wage Europe and a flexible-wage America. Firms can choose to serve the foreign market either through exports or through local subsidiaries. The essay demonstrates that the adverse employment effects of a unilateral wage floor increase significantly when trade barriers are removed. Multinational firms mitigate the adverse employment effects of one-sided wage rigidity. The third essay analyses how different unionisation structures affect firm productivity and firm performance in a monopolistic competition model with heterogeneous firms and free entry. While centralised bargaining induces tougher selection among heterogeneous producers and increases average productivity and profit levels, firm-level bargaining allows less productive entrants to remain in the market. The positive effect of centralised bargaining on average productivity can, however, be overturned when firms face international low-wage competition. Finally, the fourth chapter analyses empirically the effect of offshoring on workers'' labour market transitions in Germany. The results suggest that the effects of offshoring are strongly age- and skill-specific and also vary between sectors. While offshoring does not affect overall job stability in the manufacturing sector, it is associated with an increase in overall job stability in the service sector.

The purpose of this analytical study is to determine the degree of application of Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy and practices in the industrial corporations in Jordan. Through detailed examination of primary and secondary empirical data from these corporations, the study examines the link between TQM and labour productivity. The population of the study consists of all Jordanian shareholding corporations listed under the industrial category in Amman Stock Exchange. In late 1998, this consisted of a total of 90 companies. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed in investigating the relationship between TQM implementation and labour productivity. Detailed survey responses from 76 participating companies were classified into two groups: high-level TQM implementation and low-level TQM implementation. About 60% of these companies were classified as companies with high-level TQM. Descriptive analysis of the survey responses plus company report data found that mean labour productivity measurements for companies with high-level TQM were significantly higher than for those with low-level TQM over the years (1993-1998). Also mean growth rates of labour productivity measurements for companies with high-level TQM were higher than for those with low-level of TQM during this period. Regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant positive relationship between TQM and labour productivity. This relationship showed a high positive slope in companies with ISO 9000 certification, and considerably lower (but still positive) slope in companies without ISO 9000 certification. ACCESS RESTRICTED TO ABSTRACT ONLY.