Malaysia’s labour productivity as measured by value added per hour worked posted an increase with a growth of 1.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021 after decreasing marginally by 0.6 per cent in the preceding quarter, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
It said that during this quarter, Malaysia’s economy turned around to 3.6 per cent (Q3 2021: -4.5%) with total hours worked increased by 2.3 per cent (Q3 2021:-3.9%). In the meantime, labour productivity expressed as the ratio of value added per employment picked up in Q4 2021 by 1.7 per cent as compared to negative 5.6 per cent in Q3 2021.
DOSM said that employment went up by 1.8 per cent (Q3 2021: 1.2%). In terms of labour productivity level, value added per hour worked was RM42.2 per hour in Q4 2021 (Q3 2021: RM40.9 per hour) while value added per employment was RM24,006 per person (Q3 2021: RM21,983 per person).
Overall, for 2021, DOSM said that Malaysia’s labour productivity by value added per hour worked decreased by 2.6 per cent (2020: 3.4%) with a value of RM41.0 per hour (2020: RM42.0 per hour).
On the contrary, labour productivity measured as value added per employment rose 1.8 per cent (2020: -5.5%) with the value added per employment of RM90,647 per person (2020: RM89,022 per person).
It said that In this quarter, the growth of labour productivity in terms of value added per hour worked for Agriculture sector turned around to 1.7 per cent (Q3 2021:-3.4%). The value added and hours worked of this sector expanded by 2.8 per cent (Q3 2021: -1.9%) and 1.1 per cent (Q3 2021: 1.5%) respectively.
Labour productivity by value added per hour worked for the Mining and quarrying sector contracted 9.3 per cent as compared to a positive growth of 4.1 per cent in the preceding quarter. During this quarter, value added posted a smaller decline of 0.9 per cent (Q3 2021: -3.6%) while hours worked improved to 9.3 per cent (Q3 2021: -7.3
In Q4 2021, labour productivity as measured by value added per hour worked in the Manufacturing sector improved 4.6 per cent (Q3 2021: 2.3%). Value added of this sector accelerated to 9.1 per cent (Q3 2021: -0.8%) while hours worked went up by 4.3 per cent (Q3 2021: -3.0%). Sub-sector of Electrical, electronic & optical products (9.8%) recorded the highest growth of labour productivity followed by Beverages & tobacco products (8.6%); Non-metallic mineral products, basic metal & fabricated metal products (3.5%); and Vegetable and animal oils & fats and food processing (3.5%) sub-sectors.
The construction sector remained sluggish with the double-digit negative of 11.0 per cent in Q4 2021 (Q3 2021: -5.7%) for labour productivity by value added per hour worked. The growth of value added in this sector contracted 12.2 per cent (Q3 2021: – 20.6%) while hours worked decreased by 1.4 per cent (Q3 2021: -15.7%).
Labour productivity as measured by value added per hour worked for the Services sector increased marginally by 0.7 per cent (Q3 2021: -1.8%). Value added of this sector turned around to 3.2 per cent (Q3 2021: -4.9%) while hours worked went up by 2.5 per cent (Q3 2021: -3.2%). During this quarter, the highest growth of labour productivity in the Services sector was recorded by Transportation & storage (9.4%). This was followed by Information & communication and Finance & insurance sub-sectors which were 4.8 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.
