Malaysia’s labor productivity, as expressed by value added per hour worked, posted a negative growth of 1.1 percent with total hours worked increased 4 percent to 9.3 billion hours in the second quarter, official data showed Thursday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that in terms of value, Malaysia’s labor productivity per hour worked in the second quarter of 2023 was 40.6 ringgit (8.74 U.S. dollars) per hour, as compared to 41.2 ringgit per hour in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s labor productivity measured as value added per employment showed a marginal increase of 0.02 percent to 23,407 ringgit.
Referring to the sectoral performance for labor productivity measured as value added per hour worked, two sectors posted increases: the construction sector at 3.5 percent, and followed by the services sector at 0.1 percent.
Three other sectors posted decreases, namely, mining and quarrying (-6.7 percent), manufacturing (-3.9 percent) and agriculture (-2.9 percent).
Despite the anticipated moderate economic growth this year, the DOSM expects a better outlook for labor productivity. (1 ringgit equals 0.22 U.S. dollar)