Agenda - Council - 12/22/1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

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If all areas of the federal government, only communications achieved a decline ij unil labor costs from 1967 to 1979. Au- haled equipment raised the productiv- ~y of communications employees by 9% a year, which more than offset pay in- : leases of 6.9%, reducing unit labor costs ~, 1.9%. In all other categories, produc- --~vity gains failed to keep pace with com- ~'ensation. The categories at right are among 28 measured by the Bureau of La- tr Statistics. Overallt federal productivo grew 1.4% a year, compared with 1.6% the private sector. laectiveness of the military without a r? The BLS figures are published in cat- eOries so broad as to be of little use. me agencies can obtain unpublished akdowns showing how well they stack up against other parts of the government. lit comparisons are often thwarled by e sparsity of statistics submitted to the ,S. For instance, the Veterans Admin- istration lumps all its hospitals' figures to- lather, so no one can compare them. 'Even the broad judgment that govern- ment produ, ctivity has been climbing may omiSleading. The BLS admits that pro~ ctivity might actually show a decline nly net output is considered--that is, if the delivery of services by one gov- lanment agency to another, were eltra- ted. The .agency believes that intra- vernment activities, involving many automated operations such as word pro- sstsing, have been gaining in productivity er than the services .actually rendered to the taxpayer.' .' ihThe BLS figures say nothing about ether the govern, merit or the private ctor is more efficient. They disclose rates of growth rather than levels of produc- ffiity. The BLS has no idea h~)w the lev- compare, but the General Accounting ce has studied specific areas and found Pay Outraces Productivity in Washington Average annualchange Output Per employee-year Compensation per employee-year Unit labor cost Communications Loans & grants Finance & accounting Rulemaking & licensing Manufacturing Regulation & enforcement Postal service Electric power Printing All-government average 10% The Big Ones Are the ToUgh Ones Annual cost per U.S. Citizen the government far behind. It reported in Education 79 that federally owned power stations , ~ploy 48% more people and cost 20% Defense more per kilowatt-hour than private util- Welfare [~es, which make greater use of auto- ~ation. The government has been less Health & hospitals ~ continued Highways ~he juiciest targets for productivity ~ ~arksmen are the actiglties that cost ~ost, where small gains could mean big P_oIi~~ ~ savings. Unhappily, education, defense, Garbage & ~d welfare are among the toughest gov- ,nment services to improve, white less Fi~: · ltpensive sanitation andfire departments ~ are more easily streamlined. 8 FORTUNE Aog~,st ~o, ~a~t Federal State & local