BRASILIA: According to a just-released study from the World Bank, Brazil must increase its labor productivity in order to grow its stagnant economy. At the country’s current productivity rate, Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to grow 1.8 percent, but should the country boost productivity, says the World Bank, it could rise to as much as 4.4 percent.
In Brazil, the labor productivity rate has increased 0.7 percent a year since the mid-90s. Labor productivity measures the amount of goods and services that a worker produces in a given amount of time and is a common indicator of a country’s economic growth.
According to the report, entitled “Emprego e crescimento: a agenda da produtividade” (Employment and Growth: the Productivity Agenda), the average Brazilian worker today is only 17 percent more productive than they were twenty years ago. By comparison, the average worker in countries with robust economies is 34 percent more productive than twenty years ago. Speaking at a ceremony on Wednesday marking the publication of the World Bank report, Brazil’s Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha welcomed the World Bank’s recommendations.
