APO Opens Access To 40 Years of Economic Productivity Data; Unveils the AEPM Online Resource

TOKYO, JAPAN - In an initiative aiming to accelerate the use of productivity data by stakeholders across the Asia-Pacific region, the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) announced the online debut of the Asian Economic Productivity Map (AEPM) for National Productivity Organizations (NPOs), public and private policymakers, planners, and other user groups. The AEPM tool can be accessed at http://www.apo-tokyo.org/wedo/measurement/aepm/.

The AEPM, a comprehensive online resource on 70 productivity and economic indicators, offers a user-friendly web interface with free access to productivity-related data, covering 30 Asian economies and benchmarks from multiple economic groups across the world including ASEAN, South Asia, the Gulf Cooperation Council, EU 15, and USA.

Emphasizing on the strategic role that this online initiative can play in an increasingly digitized economic landscape, APO Secretary-General Santhi Kanoktanaporn said, "The need for a digital resource such as the AEPM has long been felt by productivity stakeholders across the region. The power of the AEPM lies in its simplicity and clarity of presentation, which make it a highly effective tool and reference point for governments and NPOs for their varied productivity benchmarking requirements."

The AEPM is one of the tangible outcomes of the APO Productivity Databook and Database research project, which is an ongoing effort of the APO in collaboration with Keio Economic Observatory, KeioUniversity, led by Professor Dr. Koji Nomura and assisted by a team of researchers.

Elaborating upon the effectiveness of the AEPM resource as well as the Productivity Databook, Professor Nomura commented, "With the meticulous research work through the continuing partnership between the APO and Keio, we were able to harmonize and compile 40-year timeline data. Therefore the AEPM is being released as a new on-line tool for illustrating the productivity data offered by the APO. Baseline indicators on productivity and economic performance are calculated for 30 Asian economies, representing the 20 APO member economies and 10 nonmember economies in Asia, as well as for reference countries."

"Based on the growth accounting framework, the sources of economic growth in each economy are further decomposed into factor inputs of labor and capital and total factor productivity (TFP) for 20 Asian economies, along with the US as a reference economy. I hope that the TFP data help the stakeholders analyze the potential for economic growth, showing room for further acceleration of sustainable economic growth to be realized through innovation and technological advances," Dr. Nomura continued.

The 40-year timeline assures users that they can rely on the trends and analyses with a high degree of accuracy. Baseline indicators on economic growth and productivity are calculated for 30 Asian economies, representing the 20 APO member economies (APO20) and 10 nonmember economies in Asia. Based on the growth accounting framework, the sources of economic growth in each economy are further decomposed into factor inputs of labor and capital and total factor productivity (TFP) for 20 Asian economies, along with the US as a reference economy.

The AEPM provides graphic dashboard views of productivity and economic trends. Productivity data are presented both by per-worker labor productivity and per-hour labor productivity, in addition to TFP growth rates. Labor productivity growth is computed for key sectors, such as agriculture, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, transportation, and communication. Data on other economic parameters including output, capital, demand, income, population, and prices are also available as one-point references.

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