Written question asked by Lord Birt (Crossbench) on Monday, 8 July 2019, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 July 2019. It was answered by Lord Henley (Conservative) on Wednesday, 17 July 2019 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Productivity

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the decline in UK productivity over the last three successive quarters; and of the comparative performance of other advanced economies whose productivity is increasing.

Answer

The fall in productivity in 2019 Q1 was predominantly due to a fall in manufacturing productivity of -0.9%. Productivity in the services sector grew by 0.2% over the same period. A similar pattern was observed in 2018 Q4, with services productivity outperforming manufacturing; growing by 0.4% compared to a fall of -1.1% for the latter.

In terms of international comparisons, based on OECD data, all G7 countries excluding the US (for which data are not yet available) experienced a slowdown in productivity growth in 2018. The UK's productivity growth rate of just over 0.5% in 2018, was the second highest in the G7.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL16974
Session: 2017-19
Subjects: Productivity
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Productivity

Secondary information

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