| Abstract [eng] |
Labour productivity is one of the most important indicators of the competitiveness of a national or regional economy. Labour Productivity growth is important for sustainable economic growth and high standards of living. A higher labour productivity indicator reflects the quality of human capital in country economy. Also it shows how efficiently limited resources are used in countries. It is particularly important to determine what factors affect labour productivity in manufacturing. The manufacturing industry in many countries is one of the key determinants of economic growth, as it generates a large part of the country's GDP by encouraging domestic consumption and international trade. Therefore, it can be expected that the higher the value of production manufacturing produce, the more country's economy will grow. In order to ensure the country's economic growth in the long run, it is important to analyze what factors influence labour productivity in the manufacturing industry. The object of this research is the labour productivity of the Lithuanian manufacturing industry. The aim of the research is to evaluate factors affecting Labour productivity in Lithuania manufacturing industry. In order to achieve the aim, there was formulated these tasks: 1) to evaluate labour productivity indicators and problems in different Lithuanian economy sectors; 2) to analyze the concept of productivity and to reveal what factors influence labour productivity changes in a theoretical aspect; 3) to reveal the importance of labour productivity for the national economy; 4) to examine the dynamics of labour productivity in Lithuania manufacturing industry and compare it with other EU countries; 5) to analyze economic factors which influence labour productivity in the Lithuanian manufacturing industry by using correlation and regression analysis. It was found that labour productivity in Lithuanian economic sectors is significantly lower than the EU average. The lowest labour productivity is in the service sectors. However, the growth of Lithuania's economy is mostly influenced by the manufacturing sector. The output of this sector represents more than one third of the total production of the country. As one of the main problems of manufacturing labour produdictivity it can be noted that wages are rising faster than labour productivity. These changes should be considered negatively as companies with higher wage costs are less likely to invest in new technologies and processes that could improve labour productivity. As a result, Lithuanian companies can face competition problems as rising wages increases their costs of production which leads to declining competition with markets in other countries. Comparing the labour productivity of the Lithuanian manufacturing industry with the corresponding indicator in Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden and the EU average, it was also established that Lithuanian labour productivity in the manufacturing industry is one of the lowest in the whole EU. Labuor productivity indicator of the Lithuanian manufacturing industry in comparison with the EU average in 2008 -2015 was lower by more than three times. One of the main reasons for such a low Lithuanian labour productivity index are the lowest FDI and education financing indicators among all the countries analyzed. It is concluded that if Lithuania does not significantly improve the labour productivity index, it will become increasingly difficult for the country to remain competitive with other countries. A low level of competitiveness can lead, in the first place, to a significant decline in FDI and exports, which may lead to a decline in the economy of the country as a whole. Examination of connection between the labour productivity of the Lithuanian manufacturing industry and macroeconomic indicators revealed that gross exports and imports correlate with the labour productivity of the manufacturing industry. After assessing the significance of indicators, it has been established that gross imports are a non – significant variable, and labour productivity in the manufacturing industry depends only on export. |
