Productivity in non-market services
The Commonwealth Productivity Commission’s 5-year Productivity Inquiry Report – Advancing Prosperity - was released in March. In this report, the Productivity Commission gives particular attention to the challenges Australia faces from the shift towards service industries. Almost 90% of Australians now work in service industries, including education, health, hospitality, retail and finance. It has traditionally been difficult to lift productivity in these sectors. Productivity in these areas can be hard to measure and achieve. In many cases, the goal will be to improve quality rather than reducing cost, but it remains important that we pursue productivity improvements in these areas.
About our Speaker
Michael Brennan is Chair of the Productivity Commission. Previously Michael was Deputy Secretary, Fiscal Group, in the Federal Treasury with responsibility for Budget Policy, Retirement Incomes, Commonwealth-State Relations, Social Policy and Infrastructure Financing. Before that he was Deputy Secretary, Economic in the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. Michael has worked as an Associate Director in the economics and policy practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Michael holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from the ANU.
Michael is currently working on the Closing the Gap Review and worked on the Productivity Review inquiry.
