GDP Released: Australian productivity has barely increased in a decade

Australia's economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the June quarter and 2.1 per cent over the year, slightly stronger than the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest 1.9 per cent annual growth forecast.

But the National Accounts reveal a much more troubling result: Australian labour productivity did not increase at all during the quarter.

Real GDP increased by 0.4 per cent, while total hours worked also increased by 0.4 per cent. GDP per hour worked — the Australian Bureau of Statistics' measure of labour productivity — was therefore unchanged. Over the year, productivity actually fell by 0.2 per cent.

This is not merely a short-term problem.

The ABS productivity index stood at 98.7 in the June quarter of 2016. Ten years later it is just 99.7. In other words, Australian output per hour worked has increased by only about 1 per cent in an entire decade.

The comparison is even more striking against the post-pandemic peak. GDP per hour worked reached 105.0 in March 2022 before falling sharply as employment and hours worked expanded. It is now around 5 per cent below that peak.

Weak productivity matters because sustainable improvements in living standards ultimately require Australians to produce more for each hour worked. It also complicates monetary policy: weak productivity restricts how quickly the economy can grow without generating inflationary pressure.

Australia is producing more output. But increasingly, it has done so by using more labour rather than becoming substantially more productive.