M.Com. (Economics) / Inflation is the continuous, meaningful increase in the price level of an economic system. A distinction can be drawn between demand-pull factors (where demand exceeds the supply) and cost-push factors (prices are pushed higher by an increase in wages or input prices) as causes of inflation. Cost-push inflation is the result of the exercising of bargaining power by certain groups, e.g. trade unions. Prices can escalate as a result of competition between trade unions and firms for higher wages or competition between trade unions for a bigger portion of the national income. The aim of trade unions is to maintain the standard of living of their members, whose only source of income is the sale of their labour. Trade unions have a number of mechanisms, e.g. strikes and the withdrawal of co-operation, by means of which they can force an employer to meet their demands. Trade unions usually bargain collectively with employers regarding their wage demands. There are great differences of opinion among economists whether trade unions are the cause of inflation or whether they only contribute to inflation. Trade unions grouped themselves in organisations to look after the concerns of their members while employers have also grouped themselves in organisations. The government also plays an important role in the labour market, especially because' of the payment of unemployment benefits. Trade unions can contribute to inflation because wage increases are declared nationally, trade unions refuse to· accept any cuts in wages, contracts between employers and employees make provision for increases in salaries and also include a stipulation regarding cost of living adjustments. Trade unions can increase wage demands by being more militant, the spillover effect and wage imitation. The first white trade unions were established in the second half of the previous century and black trade unions in the early 1900' s. The numbers of especially the black trade unions increased considerably during the seventies and eighties, to such a degree that black trade unions have almost 3 million members and consist of 23,9 percent of the total economically active population. As a result of their great numbers, strikes have also shown an escalating tendency (there were 908 strikes per year during the period 1987 to 1992). The annual average inflation rate in South Africa reached double figures in 1974 and has not moved back to single figures since. If wage demands since 1985 are compared to this, the wage demands from 1987 to 1991 were higher each year than the inflation rate. Trade unions definitely have an influence on wages as the increase in minimum wages of unskilled labourers were mostly higher than. that of skilled workers. The increase in productivity has however, not kept up to date with the increase in wage rates.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg, 2017 / The primary objective of any mining business unit is to make profit by extracting, processing and selling minerals from a particular mineral deposit. It is important to optimise the extraction of the mineral resource given time, space and resource constraints. The mineral extraction process is often associated with uncertainty due to variable technical and human factors. Technical factors such as grade distribution, ground conditions and equipment reliability influence the performance of the mining production system (MPS). The performance of the MPS is also impacted by human factors such as employee skills, health and attendance. Uncertainty associated with technical and human factors often leads to planned output being different to actuals obtained. Therefore an in-depth analysis of the significant causes of deviations from the planned outcomes becomes a very important exercise. This research investigated the empirical relationships between inputs and outputs in a MPS in order assist management in directing efforts at key production drivers. A literature review revealed that production output is an end result of a chain of processes dependent and directly linked to each other, often referred to as the Mining Value Chain. The processes can be seen as milestones to be achieved within a production project. The process requires technical and human factors as resources. The literature review also highlighted that the production stage is the most obvious stage for investors to realise their return on investment. The production stage which constitutes a MPS was chosen as a relevant research area for the reason mentioned. Once a MPS has been empirically characterised, more effort and resources can be focused on the key decision making variables (DMVs) in order to meet the planned outcomes. A production function was developed accordingly, based on the production logic and historical data. The research concludes that for a typical platinum mine the face advance, face length mined, number of teams, and team size (independent variables) have a statistically significant relationship with the centares (m²) (dependent variable / response variable) produced which is a key performance indicator (KPI) for a platinum mine. A statistically significant regression equation with a coefficient of determination R2 = 0.99835 was obtained for the MPS. The production function can be used to align the physical, technical and human factors together to predict the optimal output level. The production function also highlights that the most significant production lever of the MPS is the face advance, contrary to a commonly held sentiment that lost blasts are the most significant. / MT 2017

In recent years, the UK government skills policy has emphasised the role of workforce skills development as a key driver of economic success and improving productivity across all sectors of the economy. The importance of skills (as a vehicle for enhancing productivity performance) is highlighted within numerous government reports, such as Skills White Papers (2003 and 2005), in addition to the Leitch Review of Skills (2006) which coincided with the outset of this research. Thus, the aim of this research was to examine the relationship between skills development and productivity in the construction industry in order to assess the assumptions of government skills policy in the context of the sector. A multi-method approach was adopted in this research. This involved the analysis of: official construction statistics, levy/grant and financial accounts data of construction companies, in addition to a telephone survey. The main findings of the research are published in five peer reviewed academic papers, demonstrating the tenuous nature of the relationship between skills development and productivity performance, particularly when considering the heterogeneous nature of the construction industry. Government claims about the mono-causal relationship between skills and productivity should be treated with caution. A simple boost in qualification levels or participation rates of training is unlikely to lead to productivity improvements in the construction sector. However, skills development and training activities needs to be targeted and focused if the desired outcome of enhancing productivity performance is to be achieved. Construction companies needs to be proactive in addressing the skills and training needs of their business through drawing on the various support available through CITBConstructionSkills training grants or participating in appropriate skills/training initiatives, such as apprenticeship schemes. The provision of 'productivity-based' training grants should be considered by CITB-CS in order to prompt construction companies to consider training as a plausible means for enhancing their productivity performance. Finally, the recommendations presented in this thesis and areas for further research sets out the potential way forward in terms of advancing knowledge in this area.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-11-30T11:39:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodolfo Silva Viana Sousa.pdf: 1189611 bytes, checksum: f3b2e438de86e2b8c3f43d9ac44704fe (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-30T11:39:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodolfo Silva Viana Sousa.pdf: 1189611 bytes, checksum: f3b2e438de86e2b8c3f43d9ac44704fe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-11 / This study aims to analyze labor productivity behavior in the manufacturing industry in Brazil for the years 1996-2013, from data of the Annual Industrial Survey released by the IBGE. To understand what the origins of the debate on labor productivity first discuss what are the conceptual differences according to the thinking of some of the classics called authors, then to present the main contributions on the subject by the neo-classical and the evolutionary thinking, which they were selected as appropriate for the subject of analysis. In the second phase, an industrial policy analysis and concepts through a resumption of the proposals I PND to PBM is made, identifying in each plan, which mechanisms have been suggested that could generate increases in productivity. Finally, we analyze the current theoretical debate on labor productivity behavior in the manufacturing industry. When we review the empirical data, we concluded that there was a decrease in the indicator for the manufacturing industry between 1996 and 2013. The resumption of industrial policies in the early 2000s did not guarantee support investments to cope with the growth in production, so to meet the expansion of industrial production, it was necessary to increase the number of employed persons at higher rates than the value of industrial transformation, resulting in the fall of the indicator searched / Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o comportamento da produtividade do trabalho na indústria de transformação no Brasil para os anos de 1996 a 2013, a partir de dados da Pesquisa Industrial Anual disponibilizada pelo IBGE. Para entendermos quais as origens do debate sobre produtividade do trabalho, primeiro discutimos quais são as diferenças conceituais de acordo com o pensamento de alguns dos autores denominados clássicos, para em seguida apresentar as principais contribuições sobre o tema pelos os neoclássicos e pelo pensamento evolucionista, que foram selecionadas como apropriadas para a análise do tema. No segundo momento, é feita uma análise de política industrial e seus conceitos através de uma retomada das propostas do I Plano Nacional de Desenvolvimento ao Plano Brasil Maior, identificando em cada Plano, quais mecanismos foram sugeridos que poderiam gerar incrementos de produtividade. Por fim, analisamos o debate teórico atual sobre o comportamento da produtividade do trabalho na indústria de transformação. Ao verificarmos os dados empíricos, concluímos que houve queda no indicador para a indústria de transformação entre 1996 e 2013. A retomada de políticas industriais no inicio da década de 2000 não garantiu a sustentação de investimentos para fazer frente ao crescimento da produção, de modo que, para atender à expansão da produção industrial, foi necessário aumentar o pessoal ocupado a taxas maiores que os do valor da transformação industrial, implicando na queda do indicador pesquisado

This research was designed to investigate whether or not there are significant positive relationships between the total number of reasons production employees cite for staying with an industrial firm and measures of both job performance and job satisfaction. In addition, this study sought relationships between employee work values and both job performance and job satisfaction. Significant positive correlations have been established for tribalistic and existential values with production worker job performance. Further, significant positive correlations were shown for conformist values, and negative correlations for manipulative values with both job satisfaction and with the total number of reasons cited for staying with the firm. This study gives support to a situational theory of work motivation in which both job performance and satisfaction are dependent on the strength of employee job inertia.

Changes caused by globalization and internationalization in recent decades have stimulated the modernization of the agriculture and strengthened the interdependence between primary (farm) production and upstream and downstream activities, consolidating the so-called \"agribusiness\". This closer relationship between the links of the agribusiness chain connects the dynamics of the labor market in its segments. However, despite the importance of agribusiness to the Brazilian economy and society and the interrelationship between the labor markets of its segments, there is no employment evaluation approach that considers agribusiness as a whole in Brazil. Studies that analyze the labor market in this sector are also scarce in the literature, technical or scientific. This thesis sought to make a first contribution towards filling this gap. In the first chapter, where we also created the basis for the second, we provide a new approach that allows to measure the Brazilian agribusiness labor market considered as a whole. Additionally, as empirical exercises, we analyzed some additional characteristics of the sector labor force and the effects of some employment-related income determinants on income differences among agribusiness workers. Our main database was the 2014 quarterly microdata of the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua (PNAD-C [Continuous National Household Sample Survey]). We also used information from the Relação Annual de Informações Sociais (RAIS [Annual Social Information Report]) and Cepea calculations. Our main findings are: 19 million people, 21% of the country\'s workforce, worked in the Brazilian agribusiness sector in 2014; agribusiness workers were predominately unskilled or semi-skilled with little formal education; much of the sector workforce was not formally employed; and there is an extreme labor market heterogeneity among agribusiness sector segments - with the primary segment presenting a noticeably dissimilar profile - and a significant income differential associated with different employment statuses and job market locations. In the second chapter, we analyze the significant increase in employment-related income in agribusiness based on labor productivity, real unit labor cost and the relationship between the GDP sector deflator and the IPCA, between the years 2004 and 2015. For that, we apply the procedure that Barros (2016) developed to analyze this issue for the Brazilian economy as a whole. To find the total number of employees in agribusiness (and sub-segments) in the analyzed period and to calculate labor productivity in the sector, we implemented an adaptation of the methodology developed in the first chapter of the thesis. As main results, we found that in agribusiness, there was no preponderant role of the relationship between the sector deflators and the IPCA to mitigate the effects of employment-related income growth on labor cost to the employer, as occurred in Brazil as a whole. Nevertheless, real labor income gains practically did not influence labor costs, mainly due to productivity gains in the sector, boosted by its primary segment. Without this productivity growth, real labor costs to the employer would increase at the annual rate of 3.4%, adversely affecting or even rendering unfeasible the simultaneous gains of agribusiness employers and workers in the period. / As mudanças causadas pelos processos de globalização e internacionalização nas últimas décadas estimularam a modernização da agropecuária e fortaleceram a dependência entre a agropecuária e as atividades a montante e a jusante de sua produção, consolidando o agronegócio. A medida em que os elos do agronegócio se tornaram fortemente relacionados, as dinâmicas do mercado de trabalho em cada um de seus segmentos também se conectaram. No entanto, apesar da importância do agronegócio para a economia e a sociedade no Brasil, e essa interrelação entre as dinâmicas do mercado de trabalho de seus segmentos, não há uma avaliação de emprego que considere o agronegócio como um todo no Brasil. Até por esse motivo, são escassos na literatura, técnica ou científica, estudos que analisam o mercado de trabalho desse setor. Essa tese buscou oferecer uma primeira contribuição no sentido de preencher essa lacuna. No primeiro capítulo, no qual também se cria a base para o desenvolvimento do segundo, é proposto um novo procedimento que permite que seja mensurado o mercado de trabalho do agronegócio brasileiro, considerado como um todo. Adicionalmente, como exercícios empíricos, são analisadas algumas características adicionais da força de trabalho do setor e estimados os efeitos de importantes determinantes dos rendimentos do trabalho sobre o diferencial de rendimentos entre os trabalhadores do agronegócio. Como principal base dados, são utilizados os microdados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua (PNAD-C) e, adicionalmente, informações da Relação anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS) e cálculos do Cepea. Os principais resultados do capítulo são: 19 milhões de pessoas, ou 21% da população ocupada no Brasil, trabalharam no agronegócio em 2014; os trabalhadores do agronegócio são predominantemente pouco ou não qualificados com baixo nível de educação formal; parte relevante dos trabalhadores do setor não possui carteira de trabalho assinada; e, existe elevada heterogeneidade entre o mercado de trabalho dos diferentes segmentos do agronegócio - com o primário apresentando um perfil destoante - e um diferencial de rendimentos significativo associado às diferentes posições na ocupação e categorias de emprego e à localização geográfica. No segundo capítulo da tese, analisa-se o expressivo crescimento dos rendimentos do trabalho no agronegócio entre 2004 e 2015 com base na produtividade do trabalho, no custo unitário real do trabalho (CURT) e na relação entre as variações dos deflatores do PIB setoriais e do IPCA. Para isso, aplica-se o procedimento desenvolvido por Barros (2016) para analisar a mesma questão para a economia brasileira como um todo. Para encontrar o número de ocupados no agronegócio e seus segmentos, e então calcular a produtividade do trabalho, implementou-se uma adaptação do procedimento desenvolvido no primeiro capítulo da tese. Como principais resultados, encontrou-se que, para o caso do agronegócio, diferente do que Barros (2016) observou para o Brasil como um todo, não houve papel preponderante do distanciamento entre os deflatores e o IPCA para amenizar o efeito da valorização real dos rendimentos do trabalho sobre o CURT. Ainda assim, esses ganhos de rendimentos ocorreram sem influenciar o CURT devido, principalmente, ao crescimento da produtividade no setor - impulsionada, por sua vez, pelo segmento primário. Sem esse crescimento de produtividade, o CURT teria crescido a uma taxa anual de 3,4%, afetando negativamente ou mesmo inviabilizando os ganhos simultâneos para empregados e empregadores do agronegócio no período.

Quality of life and productivity are two important measures in health outcomes that usually require the use of self-reported surveys for accurate assessment. Measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has been established as an important field in the past century, and many psychometrically validated instruments exist for both general and specific population use. Another health measure that has attracted a significant amount of attention in recent years, although there is no gold standard, is that of workforce productivity. Most productivity studies measure the amount of work loss incurred by employees in the form of absenteeism and presenteeism. A new survey that combines questions from existing HRQOL and workforce productivity surveys, the Health-Related Quality of Life and Work Productivity Questionnaire (HQWP), was constructed and tested using a descriptive, cross-sectional study of faculty and staff at a major research university. As expected, HRQOL and work loss were found to be negatively correlated. In addition, staff were found to have statistically higher levels of absenteeism than faculty, but faculty had higher levels of presenteeism. Using multivariate regression models on several measures of productivity, including both absenteeism and presenteeism, we concluded that mental health measures were stronger predictors of productivity than physical health measures for our overall sample, as well as faculty and staff groups separately. In addition, those who work extra hours to make up for lost production had significantly lower social function scores compared to those who do not. Other statistical analyses performed include PCA factor analyses on presenteeism covariates. Lastly, we performed economics analyses on the cost savings that could be achieved through health management programs to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism levels. A better understanding of reasons for absenteeism and presenteeism could help inform targeted workplace programs to reduce employer indirect costs related to lost productivity. Moreover, such programs could reduce rates of turnover due to increased employee satisfaction, as well as improve both quantity and quality of life years.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-162).

O objetivo deste estudo foi encontrar correlação entre o conforto térmico, produtividade de trabalhadores e variáveis arquitetônicas de escritórios naturalmente ventilados. O problema proposto foi: quais as variáveis arquitetônicas de ambientes de escritórios naturalmente ventilados podem interferir nas variáveis de conforto, a ponto de influenciar a produtividade dos trabalhadores? O referencial teórico envolveu os seguintes temas: conforto térmico, arquitetura das construções, ergonomia e avaliação de desempenho. A abordagem metodológica usada foi estudo transversal de natureza aplicada, quantitativa, descritiva e exploratória, fazendo uma análise causa-efeito, através de um estudo de caso. Na coleta de dados foram utilizados dois instrumentos para medir as variáveis térmicas, duas avaliações subjetivas, uma para medir o conforto térmico e outra para medir a produtividade subjetiva dos trabalhadores, e levantamento de dimensões físicas do ambiente construído, onde cada trabalhador desempenhava suas tarefas. A amostra é composta por 04 empresas, 10 ambientes arquitetônicos e 25 trabalhadores de escritório, e totalizam 45 avaliações em diferentes períodos de tempo. A análise estatística envolveu a identificação de outliers; normalidade e correlação entre as variáveis. Como resultados, 2% dos valores de produtividade podem ser explicados pelos níveis de conforto térmico calculado. As correlações entre as variáveis arquitetônicas e a variável conforto térmico apresentaram correlações baixas, sendo que a única que foi estatisticamente significativa foi a porcentagem de janela envidraçadas, que se associaram em 36,7% aos valores de conforto térmico calculado; as outras correlações encontradas foram 7,2% com a variável volume do espaço, 17,3% com área de parede externa de 0.20m de espessura, 15,5% com a implantação, usando análise não paramétrica, e 0,0% usando análise paramétrica. As correlações entre as variáveis arquitetônicas e a produtividade também apresentaram valores baixos, sendo 1,9% com a variável implantação, 5,7% com o volume do espaço, 21,9% com a variável porcentagem de janela envidraçada externa; a área de parede externa de 0.20m se associou em 48,3% aos valores de carga de trabalho relatado pelos pesquisados, sendo este valor estatisticamente significativo, mas empiricamente não lógico. Embora as correlações encontradas não sejam significativas, não sendo possível afirmar que as variáveis arquitetônicas de ambientes de escritório naturalmente ventilados sejam capazes de interferir nas variáveis de conforto térmico, a ponto de influenciar na produtividade dos trabalhadores, este trabalho apresenta como resultados que os valores de carga de trabalho tiveram maior variação quando os trabalhadores estavam sob leve desconforto por frio ou calor (+/-14, 50%), do que quando estavam em níveis de conforto entre -0,5>PMV<+0,5 (+/-8,50%). Isto mostra que o nível de conforto interfere na produtividade, porém não se sabe como e quanto. / The objective of this study was to find correlation between thermal comfort, productivity workers and architectural variables of naturally ventilated offices. The proposed issue was: what are the architectural variables of naturally ventilated office environments can interfere on of comfort's variables influencing worker productivity? The theoretical framework involved the topics: thermal comfort, architecture of the buildings, ergonomics and performance evaluation. The methodological approach used was cross-sectional study of an applied nature, quantitative, descriptive and exploratory making a causal analysis by a case study. In collecting data we used two instruments to measure thermal variables two subjective evaluations, one to measure the thermal comfort and the other to measure the subjective worker productivity, and samples physical dimensions of the built environment where each worker played their tasks. The sample consists of 4 companies, 10 architectural environments and 25 office workers conducted 45 reviews in different time periods. Statistical analysis involved the identification of outliers; normality and correlation between variables. As results, 2% of yield values can be explained by the thermal comfort levels calculated. The correlations between the architectural variables and the thermal comfort variable showed low correlations, and the one that was statistically significant was the percentage of glazed window that were associated in 36.7% to the calculated thermal comfort values, the other correlations were 7.2% with the variable volume of space, 17.3% with external wall area of 0.20 m thick, 15.5% with the implantation of space using non-parametric analysis and 0.0% using parametric analysis. The correlations between the architectural variables and productivity also showed low values, being 1.9% with the implantation of space variable, 5.7% with the volume of space, 21.9% with the variable percentage of external glazed window, the area outer wall of 0.20m was associated in 48.3% the workload values reported by respondents, and this was statistically significant but empirically not logical. Although the correlations are not significant, it is not possible to say that the architectural variables naturally ventilated office environments, researched, are able to interfere with the thermal comfort variables to interfere in worker productivity, this paper presents results as the workload values had higher variation when workers were under discomfort by cold or heat (+/-14. 50%) than when they were in comfort levels between -0.5> PMV <+0.5 (+ / -8.50%). This shows that the comfort level interferes with productivity, but it is unknown how and how much.

This thesis is focused on analysis of utilization of production factors in the agrarian company, during the period from 2005 to 2010. The farm was classified to four groups - LFA, NON LFA, transitional area and ?total?. In the theoretical part were characterized individual factors of production - land, labor and capital. Next part thesis was oriented on financial analysis, mainly was focused on ratio indicators of the financial analysis. In the practical part were made rating utilization of production of factors in agricultural companies. At first was assessed a financial situation companies, during the period from 2005 to 2010 using the indicators of the financial analysis. Next was performed analysis utilization of production of factors. One chapter was devoted structure of production. In last chapter were given production function and cost function.