Japan productivity problem holds back economic growth
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Subject
Japan's lagging productivity.
Significance
A more vigorous Japanese economy requires a higher-quality workforce, more effective investment and, especially, higher rates of productivity growth. Productivity is critical because Japan already has one of the best-educated workforces among the advanced economies and its capital stock is already high. However, productivity growth has stagnated.
Impacts
- Rising scale of part-time employment hinders the growth of a workforce with the skills to enable higher productivity.
- Japan’s service sector, a growing share of the economy, is not investing in the information technology required to increase productivity.
- Until Japan's productivity problem is addressed, the country's economy is likely to remain mired in slow growth.
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