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UK labour productivity since the onset of the crisis — an international and historical perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Hughes, Abigail

    () (Bank of England)

  • Saleheen, Jumana

    () (Bank of England)

Abstract

UK labour productivity has been persistently weak since the onset of the recent financial crisis. This suggests that there is significant spare capacity within UK companies, but business surveys instead point to little spare capacity. This article aims to shed light on this puzzle by looking at cross-country and historical evidence. It finds that it has been unusual to see persistently weak labour productivity after previous financial crises in advanced economies. UK labour productivity stands out as being weak relative to historic episodes; it is also weak compared to other countries in the recent crisis. This weakness is concentrated in the energy and service sectors, suggesting the supply potential of the economy has grown more slowly than usual since the start of the crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Hughes, Abigail & Saleheen, Jumana, 2012. "UK labour productivity since the onset of the crisis — an international and historical perspective," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 52(2), pages 138-146.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:qbullt:0077
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Faccini, Renato & Hackworth, Christopher, 2010. "Changes in output, employment and wages during recessions in the United Kingdom," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 50(1), pages 43-50.
    2. Richard Disney & Jonathan Haskel & Ylva Heden, 2003. "Restructuring and productivity growth in uk manufacturing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(489), pages 666-694, July.
    3. Reinhart, Karmen & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2009. ""This time is different": panorama of eight centuries of financial crises," Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 77-114, March.
    4. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "Varieties of Crises and Their Dates," Introductory Chapters,in: This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly Princeton University Press.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Blogs review: the UK’s output, employment and productivity puzzle
      by ? in Bruegel blog on 2012-10-01 18:16:14

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Nicholas Oulton & María Sebastiá-Barriel, 2013. "Long and Short-Term Effects of the Financial Crisis on Labour Productivity, Capital and Output," CEP Discussion Papers dp1185, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Alex Haberis & Richard Harrison & Matt Waldron, 2014. "Transitory interest-rate pegs under imperfect credibility," Discussion Papers 1422, Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM).
    3. Chowla, Shiv & Quaglietti, Lucia & Rachel, Lukasz, 2014. "How have world shocks affected the UK economy?," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 54(2), pages 167-179.
    4. Oulton, Nicholas, 2013. "Medium and long run prospects for UK growth in the aftermathof the financial crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58239, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Isoré, Marlène & Szczerbowicz, Urszula, 2017. "Disaster risk and preference shifts in a New Keynesian model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 97-125.
    6. Harimohan, Rashmi, 2012. "How has the risk to inflation from inflation expectations evolved?," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 52(2), pages 114-123.
    7. Kapelko, Magdalena & Oude Lansink, Alfons & Stefanou, Spiro, 2014. "The Impact of the 2008 Economic Crisis on Dynamic Productivity Growth of the Spanish Food Manufacturing Industry. An Impulse Response Analysis," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182769, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Burgess, Stephen & Fernandez-Corugedo, Emilio & Groth, Charlotta & Harrison, Richard & Monti, Francesca & Theodoridis, Konstantinos & Waldron, Matt, 2013. "The Bank of England's forecasting platform: COMPASS, MAPS, EASE and the suite of models," Bank of England working papers 471, Bank of England.
    9. Barnett, Alina & Batten, Sandra & Chiu, Adrian & Franklin, Jeremy & Sebastia-Barriel, Maria, 2014. "The UK productivity puzzle," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 54(2), pages 114-128.
    10. Richard Blundell & Claire Crawford & Wenchao Jin, 2014. "What Can Wages and Employment Tell Us about the UK's Productivity Puzzle?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(576), pages 377-407, May.
    11. repec:boe:qbullt:0212 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Barnett, Alina & Chiu, Adrian & Franklin, Jeremy & Sebastia-Barriel, Maria, 2014. "The productivity puzzle: a firm-level investigation into employment behaviour and resource allocation over the crisis," Bank of England working papers 495, Bank of England.
    13. Gilhooly, Robert & Weale, Martin & Wieladek, Tomasz, 2012. "Disaggregating the international business cycle," Discussion Papers 37, Monetary Policy Committee Unit, Bank of England.

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