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Productivity

Volume 468: debated on Monday 3 December 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what productivity per worker is in the UK; what information his Department holds on equivalent figures for (a) the USA, (b) Germany, (c) France, (d) China and (e) India; and if he will make a statement. (163875)

The Government have a long running PSA objective to raise productivity growth over the cycle and in comparison to our main international competitors (the US, France and Germany).

Latest international comparisons of productivity per worker produced by the ONS for 2006 show the gap with France currently stands at around 9 per cent. down from 23 per cent. in 1995. The data also show that productivity in the UK is 4 per cent. higher than in Germany from being 10 per cent. lower in 1995. The gap with the US stands at around 23 per cent. down from 29 per cent. in 1995.

ONS does not produce data on the productivity performance of India and China. However, GDP per capita data suggest that productivity performance is significantly below that in the UK.