WELLINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A growing labor market resulted in a drop of 0.7 percent in New Zealand's labor productivity, the government statistics agency said Wednesday.
"A growing labor market saw a record rise in labor available to produce goods and services," Statistics New Zealand national accounts senior manager Gary Dunnet said in a statement.
"This strong labor market growth, and annual output growth of 2.8 percent, led to a fall in labor productivity."
Multifactor productivity - a measure of the effects of unobserved inputs such as technological progress, efficiency gains, and economies of scale - fell by 0.4 percent.
Capital productivity was flat - up 0.1 percent - as capital inputs rose in line with output growth.
Labor productivity measures the quantity of goods and services (output) produced for each hour of labor.
"The agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry provided a boost to output, while the construction industry remained strong," Dunnet said.
Opposition lawmakers said the figures showed New Zealanders were working harder than ever and getting less back.
"We are slipping further and further behind in a measure that matters to Kiwis' quality of life," said finance spokesperson for the main opposition Labour Party Grant Robertson.
"Australia also experienced a higher rate of growth in labor productivity over the same period - an average of 2.2 percent a year compared with 1.3 percent a year in New Zealand. This is why average Australian pay rates are moving away from New Zealand rates," Robertson said in a statement.
"Our recent sectors of growth have been in tourism, real estate and construction - these are sectors in which it is difficult to achieve significant productivity growth."
