Productivity growth has slumped during under Tories – John McDonnell

Commenting on ONS analysis showing that average productivity growth in the last decade was one-third of the level of productivity growth in the decade before, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP said:

“Productivity growth has slumped during the time that the Tories have been in government.

“For all their talk of a productivity agenda, the Conservatives have singularly failed to address the massive productivity challenges facing this country, in particular for small- and medium-enterprises outside of London.

“In government Labour will deliver a comprehensive and costed economic programme to tackle the productivity crisis, including through the establishment of a National Investment Bank and a National Transformation Fund.”

Ends

Notes to Editors:

• ·         ONS analysis of firm-level productivity level notes that “Weak productivity growth has been one of the defining characteristics of the UK’s economic performance over the last decade”: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/productivitymeasures/articles/firmlevellabourproductivitymeasuresfromtheannualbusinesssurveygreatbritain/2017. It also notes that weaker productivity was recorded by smaller businesses, and that stronger productivity performance was recorded by foreign-owned businesses.
• ·         Analysis of spatial disparities in productivity by the ONS shows that “there … exists a large disparity in productivity levels between the areas with the lowest productivity and those with the highest in Central London”: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/understandingspatiallabourproductivityintheuk/2019-05-03.
• ·         The ONS also notes that average annual labour productivity growth between 2008 and 2018 was 0.6%, exactly one-third of the 1.8% average annual labour productivity growth over the decade prior to 2008: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/understandingspatiallabourproductivityintheuk/2019-05-03