Turkish industry's productivity up 1.1% in Q3

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The productivity of the Turkish industry increased by 1.1% year-on-year in the July-September period of 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Technology announced on Wednesday.

Calendar adjusted index of production per person employed reached 111.44 in the third quarter of 2019, while the figure was 110.23 in the same period last year, according to official figures.

Among major economic activities, productivity rose by 10.6% in the mining and quarrying sector, 2.6% in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, and 2.4% in the manufacturing industry.

The highest increase in productivity was seen in the activities of the manufacturing of computer, electronic and optical products with an annual hike of 55.84%, in the July-September period.

The biggest drop in productivity was observed in the activities of "other manufacturing category" with a 15.9% annual drop, in the same period.

On the industrial groupings side, the highest yearly productivity increase posted by the energy with 7.65%, while the durable consumer goods saw the biggest drop, decreasing 7.43%, in the third quarter of 2019 on an annual basis.

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 labor requirements analysis based on economic activities," it added.