S. Korea's auto industry productivity outpaces that of U.S., Japan

SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- Labor productivity in South Korea's automobile industry has grown at a faster pace than that of the United States and Japan over the past decade, a report showed Wednesday.
The report by the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) showed domestic productivity rising 6.3 percent in the 2001-2010 period, higher than the 5.5 percent and 4.0 percent gains tallied for the other two countries.
Labor productivity is measured by dividing output by labor input during a given period of time.
During the time, the auto industry's labor productivity averaged US$55,750 compared to $98,426 in the United States and $82,305 in Japan.
The report, meanwhile, showed that labor productivity at Hyundai Motor Co. the country's largest carmaker, averaged $148,000. This is higher than $147,000 tallied for Japan's Toyota Motor Co. The number for Kia Motor Corp., Hyundai sister company, stood at around $119,000.
The report added that the percentage of tangible assets set aside to promote research and development by Hyundai and Kia reached 13.2 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively, in the 10-year period. This is higher than 7.6 percent tallied for Toyota.