Industry gains more efficiency with crisis
O Estado de S. Paulo
The Brazilian industry took advantage from the crisis and the resumption of the economic growth to gain efficiency. In the first quarter of 2010, the production for an hour paid in the plants grew 15.9% compared to the same period of 2009. Compared to the three first months of 2008, the gain in productiveness was 4.3%. The increase of the productiveness means the cost of production in the Brazilian industry was reduced. That allows the sector to better absorb the increases of cost of all types, including salaries, besides opening room for a fall in the prices and increase of the competitiveness of the Brazilian product. Nevertheless, the extra breath varies from sector to sector and from company to company.
Driven by the 18% growth of the industrial production between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of this year, the evolution of the efficiency in the plants was followed by the growth of 0.7% in the number of jobs and 1.8% in the number of hours paid. The payroll grew 3.3% above the inflation in the period. As regards the cost of the work, measured by the ration between the real payroll and the hours paid, it increased 1.5%. The increase of the cost was lesser than the gain provided by the increase of the productivity, which signals that, on the average, the salary increases were granted by the industries without inflation pressures. The information is in a survey ordered by the State to the Iedi (Institute for Studies in Industrial Development) To calculate the productivity, the Iedi used as grounds the data of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The strong increase of the efficiency of the industry in the post-crisis period can be explained by the conjugation of three factors, according to the economic advisor of the Iedi, Julio Sergio Gomes de Almeida. In first place, the movement reflects, to a great extent, the recovery of the productivity lost in the crisis. "The industry will be more alive than ever, but the recovery was expected", says Gomes de Almeida. Besides that, the economist mentions that in periods of crisis there is rationalization in the productive products that lead to the continuous increase of productivity. "The companies always take advantage of the crisis to reorganize themselves". For Gomes de Almeida, the most important factor was the resumption of the so-called light investments in machinery and equipment, referred to as such for they do not require major civil works.