Patterns of industrialisation, structural changes and productivity in Turkish manufacturing (1970 - 2000)

This paper analyses the impact of structural changes in Turkish manufacturing employment on manufacturing productivity by decomposing aggregate manufacturing productivity growth for the period 1970-2000 into the contributions of individual industries and of labour reallocation among industries. The analysis is conducted for 19 manufacturing industries. The results show that before 1980, the government could effectively realise gains in aggregate productivity to some extent through the reallocations of manufacturing labour across industries in an import-substitution industrialisation policy. The export-oriented strategy (after 1980) which was accompanied by structural adjustment reforms that included a large-scale liberalisation first of the trade regime and later of the capital flows did not bring about the desired shifts of labour towards industries with higher labour productivity growth rates. The impact of the induced shifts of labour on aggregate labour productivity in the post-1980 period is negative. (J Eco Coop Isl Count/GIGA)