Labor Productivity is not only one of the major sources of economic growth of a nation, but is also related to several other important economic variables, for example, price stability, wage rates, and others. It is imperative to have proper tools by which to measure labor productivity, so as to keep pace with the continual improvements being made in terms of the quality and quantity of the volume of raw data, and the diversified usages being made of the labor productivity measure itself.
The existing raw data is limited to produce “direct” labor productivity and does not include other methods of assessing labor productivity. In this paper, in addition to enumerating defects in the present system of labor productivity measurement, ways to improve that system are outlined. Moreover, a method for constructing an alternative set of labor productivity statistics is also included. This is done to allow comparison with the present system. The intent is to encourage the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, Republic of China (DGBAS), which publishes the current statistics, to improve their data.
Finally, the paper points out that in order to resolve problems related to labor productivity statistics once and for all, it would be best to solicit a professional institution following the short-term, mid-term, and long-term schedules to estimate the labor productivity statistics as suggested in the paper.
