S. Korea's manufacturing labor productivity down in Q1

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's labor productivity in the manufacturing
sector fell in the first quarter as the weak economy affected overall demand for
locally made products, a government report showed Friday.

According to the data provided by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the labor
productivity index for the nation's manufacturing sector stood at 112.6 in the
January-March period, down 8.7 percent from 123.8 in the same period an year
earlier.
Labor productivity is measured by dividing the total output with the total labor
input during a certain period of time, the ministry explained. The government set
2005 as the base year with the index set at 100.
Despite gains fueled by government consumption and gains in the construction
sector, weak consumer spending, exports and sluggish business investment caused
numbers to fall off, the ministry said.
This marks the second quarter in a row that the quarterly index fell on-year,
although the rate of decline decreased from the 11.5 percent drop tallied for the
fourth quarter of 2008.
According to the report, labor input fell 8.3 percent on-year in the first three
months of this year, with industrial output also dropping 16.3 percent over the
cited period.
The South Korean economy gained 0.1 percent on-quarter in the first quarter,
while contracting 4.2 percent compared to the year before as the global slump
affected domestic consumption, exports and investment.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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