South Korea’s labor productivity fell from a year earlier in the second quarter as the global economic downturn caused a drop in the country’s exports, the government said Monday.

The labor productivity index for all industries in the April-June period came to 105.4, down 1.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The figure, however, marks a slower drop of labor productivity from the first quarter when the index fell 2.3 percent on-year.

Labor productivity, which excludes the farming and fishing sectors, is measured by dividing total industrial output with total labor input during a given period of time. Monday’s report showed the country’s industrial output rose only 0.8 percent in the second quarter while labor input gained 2.1 percent on-year.

“Employment grew, especially in the service sector, despite a drop in exports due to a prolonged global economic downturn and shrinking consumer sentiments,” the ministry said in a press release. “But the labor productivity continued to drop since the first quarter of 2010.”

South Korea’s exports in the first eight months of the year shrank 1.5 percent from the same period last year, the ministry said earlier.

By industrial sector, labor productivity of the manufacturing industry rose 3.5 percent on-year as its total output grew 1.5 percent from a year earlier with its total labor input shrinking 2 percent.

The labor productivity of the service industry, on the other hand, dropped 0.8 percent on-year despite a 2.5 percent growth in the number of its employees as its total output grew at a slower rate of 1.7 percent.

The construction industry posted the largest drop of 20.1 percent on-year in its labor productivity with its total output also plunging 10.8 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap News)