Tiraspol, 20 June. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The overall index of labour productivity in Pridnestrovie is higher than that in Moldova and Ukraine. At the same time, we are considerably behind Russia and even more behind the developed states of Europe and Asia.
This conclusion has been made by analysts of the Pridnestrovian Republican Bank, who published in PRB Bulletin comparative data on the labour productivity in the region. The calculation was made in the US dollar's equivalent per each employee.
In 2015, this index per employee amounted to $6,240 in the PMR, making $5,510 in Ukraine, $5,380 in Moldova and $18,420 in Russia
According to specialists, the overall picture is influenced by Moldova's low-value-added agricultural products, with a third of population engaged in agriculture. As for Ukraine, its domestic political and military conflict has not only resulted in an overall slowdown in economic processes, but in the exclusion of certain industrial regions from statistics gathering.
As is noted in PRB Bulletin, the inter-state differences in labour productivity indexes are often related to the industrial structure of national economies, labour-output ratios and dependence on external market outlets.
With regard to labour productivity in Pridnestrovie's industry, the authors of the analysis note a decrease in both industrial enterprises and workers engaged in this sector (by 17,500 persons) over the past decade. On the other hand, some big enterprises have managed to conduct considerable technical re-equipment, which helped them increase production output and product quality and thus the value added quantity.
PRB analysts cite peculiar data on labour productivity in the PMR's metallurgical industry (at Moldovan Steel Works). In 2015, despite reduced demand and fall in international prices, the plant's management managed to reach the maximum index of labour productivity in the past seven years — 175 tonnes of steel per worker.
«At the same time, according to experts, an average of 700 tonnes of steel a year accounts for a worker in the world's best metallurgical companies. In Europe and Asian developed countries, for example in South Korea, this index is about 1,000 tonnes, and in Russia the average index is 350 tonnes of steel a year per worker. In Ukraine, the index varies from 100 to 300 tonnes of steel a year," the bulletin notes.
The authors note, at the same time, that it is necessary to take into account MMZ's specifics as an enterprise exclusively oriented in processing metal scrap, which makes it impossible to make a direct comparison to metallurgical giants.
With regard to labour productivity in the agricultural sector, specialists think it is considerably influenced by an increase in irrigated crop areas, which has been achieved in the past years at the expanse of state and private investments in the reconstruction and maintenance of the ameliorative complex. The total number of agricultural workers reached 8,700 persons in 2015.
The problem of enhancing labour productivity today is reduced to the industry's technical re-equipment and expansion of its production and technical machinery, skills of the country's workforce," PRB Bulletin underscores. The resolution of the above mentioned tasks is hindered by a disruption in production strings, insufficient financial capabilities of enterprises, political difficulties and, what is more, fluctuation of market outlets.
Pavel Uvarov.
