So now I pose a question:
Who are the most productive workers in the New Zealand economy?
In principle, this should be a very easy question to answer. Simply look at the production figures for each sector of the economy, and divide this by the number of workers in each sector. Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple, as the data makes no distinction between part-time and full-time workers.
The figures for this analysis are taken from Statistics New Zealand, which is a reliable source of information. I have, on the chart below, the number of workers in each sector, and each sector's contribution to GDP for 2011.
The missing element that lets this analysis down however, is the lack of data on hours worked in each industry. In some sectors such as retail and restaurants, there is a greater proportion of people working part-time compared to other industries such as manufacturing. Statistics New Zealand does have data on total hours worked in New Zealand, but unfortunately, this is not broken down into different economic sectors. A true analysis of worker productivity would divide total production by hours worked, instead of dividing by the number of workers. This means that the figures below need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Figures are in current NZ dollars
Table 1: Output per-worker in New Zealand
| Sector | Number of workers in sector | GDP per sector | GDP per worker |
| Agriculture, fishing, forestry, and mining | 159,900 | $15,398,000,000 | $96,298 |
| Manufacturing | 256,800 | $24,699,000,000 | $96,180 |
| Electricity, gas, and water | 16,800 | $3,996,000,000 | $237,857 |
| Construction | 178,800 | $7,981,000,000 | $44,636 |
| Wholesale trade | 109,000 | $14,861,000,000 | $136,339 |
| Retail, Accommidation and Restaurants | 335,500 | $15,394,000,000 | $45,884 |
| Transport and communication | 140,600 | $21,177,000,000 | $150,619 |
| Finance, insurance, and business services | 346,700 | $59,347,000,000 | $171,177 |
| Government admin and defence | 126,900 | $10,116,000,000 | $79,716 |
| Personal and Community services | 558,400 | $24,737,000,000 | $44,300 |
| Total | 2,229,400 | 197,706,000,000 | $88,681 |
As you can see, the most productive sectors according to this analysis are electricity, gas and water, finance, and transport and communication. This is likely to be because these sectors normally produce high-value goods and services, and use capital such as computers and heavy transport machinery to increase production. As I suspected, the sectors where there is more part-time employment were the least productive, but as I stated above, a different result may occur if hours worked was used instead of the absolute number of workers per sector. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to see the number of workers involved in each industry and their contribution to national production.
