What is the concept industrial productivity?
Answers
It should be noted that, the concept of productivity is so closely attached to the labor input that the term productivity is almost used as the synonym of productivity of labor. International Labor Organization (ILO) defined productivity as, the ratio between the volume of output as measured by production indices and corresponding volume of labor input as measured by employment indices. The most important reasons why labor is used as the commonest factor in measuring productivity are:
(1) it is easy and precise to measure the units of labor inputs a compared to other inputs like materials, capital etc. The productivity can be very easily measured in terms of output per man, output per man hour or output per unit of labor time.
(2) Labor input is universally applied to all types of plants and processes and productions,
(3) it has become a common practice to link wages, with the productivity.
The welfare of individuals, the growth of enterprises and the development of the national economies are largely dependent on their comparative productivity. There may exist the differences among the various countries of the world based on political ideologies, economic systems or some such reasons but all unanimously recognize the importance of the improvement in the productivity levels. Productivity is a ratio between the output of the wealth produced and the input of resources used in the process of any economic activity. There always exists a scarcity of input of resources and each input process certain inherent input creativity which is translated into output. The input creativity can yield greater mount of output through conversion efficiency.
Here lies the importance of improvement in productivity levels. The concept of productivity of course, with some degree of confusion has remained a continuous and challenging area of study. The changes in the productivity levels greatly influence a wide range of human, economic and social considerations, such a higher standard of living, rapid economic growth, improvement in balance of payments, control of inflation culture of the nation etc.
The productivity in a most simple way may be defined as ratio of output to input. It is expressed as under:
P = O / I or Productivity = Output / Input
