Factor affecting labour productivity in building construction project in Malaysia / Ahmad Nabil Ramli

Labour productivity is important because it is associated with the improvement in wages and profits. In this case, the output per labour in the construction industry needs to be improved to gain progress in the future. Currently, the construction industry in the country is associated with slow labour productivity improvement over the years. There is a need to consider factors that affect labour productivity in the construction industry. In response, this study aims to 1) identify the factor affecting labour productivity, 2) determine the incentive to improve labour productivity and 3) identify barriers to achieving high labour productivity in building construction projects in Malaysia. This study focuses on building construction projects because building projects may not be similar in terms of magnitude of work and type of construction compared to civil engineering works. A literature review is conducted to identify those factors, and quantitative analysis is used to determine their relative importance. Based on the findings, amongst others, it shows that late payments, supervisory incompetence and communication problems are top factors that affect labour productivity while providing training to workers, high safety conditions and financial incentives should be the priority in terms of incentives to improve productivity. Concerning barriers to achieving high productivity, it shows that lack of automation in the industry, lack of delegation on decision-making, and high cost of construction equipment need to be addressed by policymakers. It is hoped that this study could help to improve construction industry productivity, especially in construction building projects.