Via Canada.com By John Morrissy, Canwest News Service OTTAWA- Canadians were spending more time at work, yet the country’s productivity fell in 2008, Statistics Canada said in a report Wednesday. Nationally, productivity fell 0.5 per cent over the course of the year despite the volume of hours of work rising in every province. “What you’re seeing over the course of 2008 is some slacking off in capacity utilization,” said Finn … Continue reading
Via Guardian News and Media Limited Reporting by Paul Taylor; editing by Stephen Nisbet BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) – Germany is worried at a growing gap in economic competitiveness among member states of the euro single currency area, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Wednesday. “The good news is that we are not losing competitiveness in Europe but we fear that other countries are losing competitiveness in Europe. We fear … Continue reading
Via China View BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) — Singapore led the world in industrial competitiveness while China rose five places up from the 31st in 2000 to the 26th in 2005 in the rankings of the competitiveness industrial performance (CIP) index, according to the Industrial Development Report 2009 released here on Monday by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO. The Industrial Development Report 2009 said China’s CIP has overtaken … Continue reading
Via Inside Higher Ed by Doug Lederman Colleges’ enrollments have risen dramatically in the past 20 years, so it’s not surprising — and arguably is even appropriate — that the size of their staffs has grown, too. But the rate of growth has come among support staff employees rather than instructors and has outstripped the enrollment growth, resulting in a decline in productivity over that time, a new report asserts. … Continue reading
Via Canadian Business Online From PROFIT magazine, May 2009 Achieving the paperless office is no longer just a dream — it’s a real competitive advantage. By Laura Pratt It would have been a ridiculous job posting: “Security firm seeks person to keep track of paper.” But three years ago, such a hiring seemed inevitable for Michael Jagger, CEO of Vancouver-based Provident Security. That’s because in the 10 years since starting … Continue reading
Via People’s Daily Online Hong Kong has retained its position as the most competitive Chinese city in 2009, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published on April 14, 2009. The report, entitled the “2009 Chinese City Competitiveness Blue Book: A Report on Chinese Cities’ Competitiveness,” compared the all-round competitiveness of 294 prefecture-level and above cities around the country. The ten cities with the strongest … Continue reading
via Trade Arabia News Service Communications barriers and latencies can cost small and medium businesses (SMBs) up to 40 per cent of their productive time, according to a Siemens-sponsored global study. On average, 70 per cent of employee respondents of SMBs with up to 400 employees said they spend 17.5 hours each week addressing the pain points caused by communications barriers and latencies, according to a global study sponsored by … Continue reading
Via Bloomberg Press By Rob Delaney Alcoa Inc., the aluminum maker that just reported its first back-to-back losses in 15years, is counting on productivity gains and China’s economic-stimulus plan to prop up results as demand keeps falling throughout 2009. Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld said yesterday that the company will save $400 million a year by reducing its payroll and trimming other costs. China will be the only market where … Continue reading
Via EHS Today by Laura Walter In celebration of Public Health Week April 5-11, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis challenge employers to try a “Meeting on the Move” to improve health and productivity in the workplace. “Forty percent of the population are absolute couch potatoes,” explained Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D, professor of social work at Washington University and director of the Obesity Prevention and Policy Research Center at the … Continue reading
Via The Wall Street Journal By JOE PARKINSON LONDON — U.K. manufacturing output declined for the 12th straight month in February, while the quarterly measure recorded its steepest drop since records began in 1968, the Office of National Statistics said Tuesday. Manufacturing output fell 0.9% on a month-to-month basis in February, compared with a revised 3.0% drop in January, marking the smallest monthly drop since August 2008. Transport-equipment output — … Continue reading