16 Mar 2009

Productivity up - but not enough

9:28 pm on 16 March 2009

New Zealand's productivity record is showing signs of turning around, but experts say more needs to be done to bridge the gap with other countries.

New figures show productivity - a measure of a country's resource utilisation - improved by 0.9% in the year to last March.

The Council of Trade Unions says big improvements are needed to bridge the wage gap with Australia. It says more investment in skills and infrastructure is needed to make workers more productive.

However, the Business Roundtable says New Zealand's investment record has been good. It says businesses need a freer economic environment to recapture the good productivity performance of the 1990s.