Productivity grows 4.16% with increase of employment
Valor Econômico - 02/14/2008
The work productivity in industry grew 4.16% last year, at a faster pace than in 2006, when the gain in efficiency was 2.5%. It was also the best result since the 6% increase of 2004. The performance is the result of a combination of the increase of 6.02% in the physical production and 1.79% in the total of hours paid and it is pointed out by economists as a sign that the Brazilian industry is going through "virtuous growth cycle", with a similar expansion tendency in 2008. According to a survey from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the growth in employment in the sector was 2.2%, the highest rate of the historical series, which started in 2001, with an increase in the number of jobs in 12 of the 17 sub-sectors of industry. Productivity increased in 11 sectors, with more significant increments in the sub-sectors of machinery and equipment (10.43%) and manufacturing of means of transportation (6.77%), which registered increase in jobs and in production above the general average of the industry. On the other hand, other segments had productivity gains as a result of the reduction of jobs. It was the case of the clothing (10.6%) and footwear (8.1%) sectors. The only sector that didn't comply with the general rule was that of coke, oil refining and fuels, which presented productivity fall of 7.92%, caused by the unbalance between the increase of employment of 11.91% and the lesser growth of the production, of 3.05%. The expectation of Iedi is that the industrial production should grow 6.5% in 2008 - taking into account the increase of the installed capacity from the investments made in previous years - and the increase in employment should reach 3.5%, which would allow growth in productivity at around 3%.