REMEMBER when the pandemic first struck, we dreamed of life where the welcome new spirit of cooperation would continue allowing us to start fixing all the problems that the pandemic ruthlessly exposed?

What happened? The rich seem to be getting richer and the poor a little poorer.

And all the front-line workers have been told to be a little more productive before wage rises can be contemplated.

We need to increase our productivity. In the old days when the economy consisted of making goods rather than producing services, it was easier to work out productivity per worker.

But what does this mean today when 70 per cent of the nation's economy comprise services? Does adding up the value of what the nation produces provide a reliable basis to estimate the productivity of workers?

Take the extreme case of a string quartet.

It produces musical services. How does it increase productivity? Sack the 'cello player?

How does a midwife increase her productivity? Quicker births? What about nurses, teachers, police officers, cleaners and others whose output has actually increased because of having to perform additional tasks. Does their extra output show up in GDP statistics?

The short answer is no. What's recorded as being produced by our health system, for example, is what we spend on health. The output of a health worker is measured by what they are paid.

So how is the health worker supposed to increase productivity? One option that springs to mind is to pay more. If productivity for front line service workers is based on output which in turn reflects what they're paid, to insist that workers increase productivity before being rewarded with wage increases is a specious proposition.

Meanwhile six top executives at UTAS each receive more than our Premier. That's different we are told. It's a commercial organisation. For most front-line workers that's a disingenuous distinction.

The other side of the pandemic was supposed to open a new world where the worth of those who selflessly and tirelessly worked to help us through the crisis was reassessed and rewarded with a wage which more closely approximates their real value to society.

The Advocate, Monday 19 September 2022