Title: Assessment of labour systems: the manufacturing case of the leading industrialised countries

Authors: Edward O. Akoto; Hongman Gao; José Humberto Ablanedo-Rosas

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, Jackson State University, 1400 John R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS 39217-0280, USA ' Department of Research and Development, Bank of Communications, No. 18 Xianxia Road, Shanghai 200336, China ' Department of Information and Decision Sciences, College of Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave., El Paso, TX 79968, USA

Abstract: This paper seeks to model and evaluate the comparative labour system productivity of the leading industrialised countries using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Adopting the DEA strategy of assessment and utilising indexes of macro-economic measures as inputs and outputs, the results suggest that the labour system productivity among majority of the sample is inefficient over the period 1997-2007. Significant differences in labour system efficiency between countries are detected. The outcome also supports our assertion for the use of additional macro-economic indicators when comparing labour systems efficiency. Discussion on implications and future research is provided.

Keywords: labour systems; labour system productivity; DEA; data envelopment analysis; leading industrialised countries; macroeconomic indicators; labour system efficiency; manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2012.046354

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2012 Vol.6 No.2, pp.176 - 187

Published online: 14 Nov 2014 *

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