Turkish industry's productivity up in Q3

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL

The productivity of Turkey's industry rose 0.57 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Technology announced on Tuesday.

Official data showed that calendar adjusted index of production per person employed valued at 110.62 in the July-September period of 2018, while the figure was 109.99 in the same period last year.

Among major economic activities, the productivity rose by 4.60 percent in mining and quarrying sector, 2.35 percent in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, and it dropped by 0.80 percent in the manufacturing industry.

The highest increase in productivity was recorded in the activities of manufacturing of other transport equipment with an annual hike of 27.9 percent, in the July-September period.

Meanwhile, the biggest drop in productivity was seen in the activities of manufacturing of furniture with a 17 percent annual drop, in the same period.

On the industrial groupings side, the highest annual productivity hike was seen in the energy with 4.48 percent, while the intermediate goods posted the biggest drop, down 2.20 percent, year on year in the third quarter of 2018.

The ministry noted that “calendar adjusted” data is derived from unadjusted data by removing calendar and holiday originated effects, and it should be used in an annual comparison.

Explaining the purpose of quarterly productivity statistics, the ministry said: "Gross output based labor productivity traces the labor requirements per unit of (physical) output."

"It is calculated for the purpose of labor requirements analysis based on economic activities," it added.

The Ministry of Industry and Technology will release the next productivity report for the third quarter of this year on March 11, 2019.