Corporate Class drain on economy, Productivity Commission Reveals

 

Corporate Class drain on economy, Productivity Commission Reveals

09-04-25

The Productivity Commission’s 2025 Bulletin has revealed that the Corporate Class is the most inefficient sector of the economy. While the productivity of most skilled Trades increased their productivity; the “Administration and Support Services Sector” has seen a decline in labour productivity over the same timeframe.

The Productivity Commission’s Annual Bulletin (accessible here: https://www.pc.gov.au/ongoing/productivity-insights/bulletins/bulletin-2025/productivity-bulletin-2025.pdf) reveals that the “Administration and Support Services” industry saw a decline in labour productivity. Meanwhile, Labour productivity in agriculture, construction, transport, and manufacturing increased. The Utilities industry saw labour productivity decline slightly.

Despite this decline in corporate productivity, the ABS reveals that the industry saw the fourth largest wage rise in 2024 (see here: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/wage-price-index-australia/latest-release).

Upon closer inspection, the situation is worse than it appears. The “Business Services” Sector has been lagging behind peak efficiency for about 20 years. At the same time, the Australian Financial Review reported on 14/08/24 that the Construction industry is being held back by an overabundance of managers and a lack of tradespeople. “Though official figures show that multifactor productivity – a measure tracking the conversion of inputs such as labour, materials and capital into goods and services – fell between 2003 and 2023, new analysis by consultancy RLB reveals the performance of construction is pulled down by a top-heavy layer of professional employees,” reported Michael Bleby (See here: https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/construction-output-is-falling-and-tradies-aren-t-to-blame-20240813-p5k24u)

The statistics are clear; our corporate overlords are a drain on the nation’s resources; exploiting working class people to feed their inflated incomes. This reality sheds light on the lie that capitalism rewards hard work with money. Those of us actually contributing to the national economy are made to suffer the worst excesses of inflation, while the bosses contribute nothing to society and reap the rewards of OUR labour.

At the same time, the Bulletin suggests that Marx was correct about both the “Labour Theory of Value” and the “Tendency of the Rate of Profit to fall.” That it attributes the “Deepening Contribution of Capital’ (i.e. increased expenditure on technology and machinery) to the slkuggish nature of overall productivity, while reporting that overall labour productivity has risen; suggests that increasing investment to replace skilled workers is a drag on the economy. What’s more, the report that the Agriculture Industry lowered its contribution of capital (i.e. sold a heap of machines) saw productivity rise commensurately.

All of this straight from the horses mouth. The Productivity Commission is usually a tool the bosses use to discipline workers, yet its own statistics show that the real drain on the economy are the bosses themselves!