According to Yonhap News,

(SEJONG = Yonhap News) South Korea's labor productivity improved from a year earlier in 2013, marking the first on-year gain in three years, the government said Thursday.

The labor productivity index came to 99.5 last year, up 1.1 percent from 2012, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Labor productivity is measured by dividing total industrial output by total labor input with that of 2010 currently serving as a baseline of 100.

"Investments in facilities and equipment were somewhat slow in 2013, but the country's labor productivity increased 1.1 percent on-year as its overall industrial output rose 1.6 percent while labor input gained only 0.4 percent," the ministry said in a press release.

The country's overall labor productivity dropped 1.3 percent on-year in 2012 and 0.3 percent in 2011 following a 3.7 percent increase in 2010.

The ministry also attributed the rise to a large increase in labor productivity in the construction industry, which rose 3.1 percent from the previous year. Labor productivity in the service industry gained 1.4 percent while that in the manufacturing industry inched up 0.1 percent.

The total number of workers increased 1 percent on-year in 2013, but labor input only inched up 0.4 percent as the average workload of each laborer dropped 0.6 percent, the ministry said.