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What is Holding Back UK Productivity? Lessons from Decades of Measurement

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  • Mason, Geoff
  • O'Mahony, Mary
  • Riley, Rebecca

Abstract

UK labour productivity is significantly lower than that of many other similarly advanced economies and has been so for decades, with negative implications for UK living standards. To make matters worse, during the last ten years labour productivity growth has stalled in most industrialised countries, and particularly in the UK. This has led to a renewed policy focus on productivity growth, as evidenced by successive government productivity plans and efforts to re-invigorate industrial strategy. This paper reviews the evidence on UK productivity performance, identifying what we know about the causes of its weakness, what we do not know and what this means for policy. We review the evidence through the lens of developments in economic measurement, drawing in particular on the work of National Institute colleagues past and present, and with a view to the key measurement challenges ahead that, unlocked, will help us understand better what is holding back UK productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Mason, Geoff & O'Mahony, Mary & Riley, Rebecca, 2018. "What is Holding Back UK Productivity? Lessons from Decades of Measurement," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 246, pages 24-35, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:nierev:v:246:y:2018:i::p:r24-r35_11
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    Cited by:

    1. Bart van Ark, 2021. "Putting Together the Pieces of the Productivity Puzzle: Review Article of Productivity Perspectives and Productivity and the Pandemic," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 40, pages 118-133, Spring.
    2. Bart van Ark & Anthony J. Venables, 2020. "A Concerted Effort to Tackle the UK Productivity Puzzle," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 39, pages 3-15, Fall.
    3. John Holden & Marianne Sensier & Richard Allmendinger, 2021. "The North West of England's Productivity Challenge: Exploring the issues," Insight Papers 003, The Productivity Institute.
    4. David Gabauer & Rangan Gupta & Jacobus Nel & Woraphon Yamaka, 2021. "Time-Varying Predictability of Labor Productivity on Inequality in United Kingdom," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 771-788, June.
    5. Michela Vecchi & Maja Savic & Marina Romiti, 2021. "Skill mismatch among UK graduates," Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) Discussion Papers ESCoE DP-2021-11, Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).
    6. Peter Bauer & Igor Fedotenkov & Aurelien Genty & Issam Hallak & Peter Harasztosi & David Martinez Turegano & David Nguyen & Nadir Preziosi & Ana Rincon-Aznar & Miguel Sanchez Martinez, 2020. "Productivity in Europe: Trends and drivers in a service-based economy," JRC Research Reports JRC119785, Joint Research Centre.
    7. Philip Arestis, 2020. "Productivity and inequality in the UK: a political economy perspective," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 183-197, August.
    8. Nikola Dacic & Marko Melolinna, 2022. "The empirics of granular origins: some challenges and solutions with an application to the UK," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 151-170, December.
    9. Julie Froud & Colin Haslam & Sukhdev Johal & Karel Williams, 2020. "(How) does productivity matter in the foundational economy?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(4), pages 316-336, June.
    10. Michela Vecchi & Catherine Robinson & Maja Savic & Marina Romiti, 2023. "Vertical and Horizontal Mismatch in the UK: Are Graduates' Skills a Good Fit for Their Jobs?," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 548, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    11. Bart van Ark & Venables, 2021. "A concerted effort to tackle the productivity puzzle during the post-COVID era," Working Papers 001, The Productivity Institute.
    12. Maria Tsiapa, 2023. "A holistic approach of the labour productivity slowdown in the regions of the European Union," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(3), pages 507-531, June.
    13. Dacic, Nikola & Melolinna, Marko, 2019. "The empirics of granular origins: some challenges and solutions with an application to the UK," Bank of England working papers 842, Bank of England.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • L80 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - General
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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