Productivity definitions

Depending on the professional or industrial context, productivity can be defined as the measure or value of the balance of 'inputs' (capital investment, raw materials, labour, production and distribution) and 'outputs' (quantity or value of goods or services produced). Briefly, productivity is the measure of output for each unit of input.

Below are some useful sources of definitions for productivity across a diversity of fields:

• Google has trawled definitions for productivity from around the web, including special applications such as: primary productivity, net primary productivity, labor productivity, total factor productivity, productivity growth, biological productivity, gross primary productivity, labour productivity, secondary productivity, and multifactor productivity.

• The Wikipedia reference is another good starting point for productivity theory, modelling, company processes and technical applications.

• In economics, industry and computing, from thefreedictionary.com
  

• Basic definitions from Dictionary.com.

• In economics, according to WordNet.com.

• In the services sector, Investorwords.com, assays employee outputs compared with salaries.

More to be added over time.

If you have a useful, novel (even humorous) definition for any productivity term, please add your comment.

Gillard 'makes sense' on Skills

Scott Murdoch, of the The Australian, writes that Julia Gillard's focus on skills is "absolutely correct".

"Productivity in Australia has lagged all other countries seemingly forever, and the Government's Skills Australia approach, to provide 630,000 new training places over the next five years, is sound policy," he opines.

"If investment in skills training in a bid to boost productivity is allowed to wane now, Australia runs the risk of missing the boat when the economic cycle turns."

Full article: The Australian

Vaccinate against unproductive flu

Early immunisation was the best defence against influenza and its resultant negative impact on global productivity, according to recent European research.

Bloomberg.com reports: "the most significant cost of the disease is lost productivity and absenteeism, according to the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza, which found flu caused 203 million days of lost productivity, $11.6 billion of medical and other direct costs and $25.4 billion of indirect costs, such as parents taking time off to care for sick children."

Closer to home, in 2007 the Brisbane H3N2 virus "set off the worst epidemic in a decade in northeastern Australia," Nationally flu cases tripled the previous five year average. Seven children died compared with 2.6 deaths over the previous nine-year average.

The article also looks at the global tracking of new influenza strains and the effectiveness of vaccines and drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, reporting that at least one flu strain is now resistant to Tamiflu.

Full story: Bloomberg.com