Shift to 'more accurate' productivity measure, but challenges remain

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S government will place a greater emphasis on the "more accurate" metric of value-add (VA) per actual hour worked to measure labour productivity. Using this metric, the economy actually better satisfies productivity growth expectations as set forth by the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), said a senior official on Wednesday.

Currently, the government uses VA per worker as an official metric to measure labour productivity, which saw zero growth in the three months ended September when compared to the same period a year ago.

Though it remained unchanged, it was an improvemen…