Labour productivity took a hit last year as the economy went into recession and unemployment rose to 5%, according to Statistics New Zealand.
Productivity fell 1.5% for the year to March 2009, on the back of a 2.2% decline in real gross domestic product, or output.
However, the dip did not have much effect on the long-term trend of 1.9% annual increases in labour productivity, Statistics says.
Falls in the manufacturing and construction sectors drove the decline in output for the period, and the labour market weakened.
"Productivity declined in the March 2009 year as the New Zealand economy went into recession.," economic statistics development manager Jude Hughes says.
"There was a large drop in output, with labour taking longer to respond to the fall in demand. This led to a
significant fall in labour productivity."
An increase of 3.3% in capital investment, and decline in workforce hours of 0.7%, did not provide an overall boost to productivity.
Longer term, average annual labour productivity fell 0.3% between 2006 and 2009, compared with annual growth of 1.9% between 1978-2009.
Statistics says annual capital productivity fell 3.1% from 2006-09 on average, compared with a 0.7% annual fall from 1978-2009.
