Singapore
has struggled with the issue of productivity growth for a very long time.
As
far back as 1972, Singapore set up the National Productivity Board (NPB) to
improve individuals' and companies' productivity in all sectors of the economy.
The NPB adopted a so-called "total productivity" approach, which emphasized
productivity measurement, product quality, worker training, and assistance to
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In
the 1980s, growth via productivity was a key agenda on policy makers’ minds. In
1981, Singapore set up the Productivity Standards Board (1981). In 1982, NPB
launched a nationwide productivity campaign (remember Teamy the Productivity
Bee?) to encourage the move from labor-intensive activities to more
highly-skilled and technology-driven work. In 1986, then cabinet minister BG Lee
Hsien Loong pointed out that Singapore was industrially “still predominantly a
manufacturing production base. Products are designed overseas, and then only
produced in Singapore factories on our production lines.” The budgets of the
1980s had as part of their objectives, the goal to get out of the cheap-labour
trap and to move into high-skill industries. 1980s budgets often created
incentives and disincentives for this transformation.
