Since declaring its intention of boosting Britain's productivity performance when it was elected in 1997, the Labour Government has introduced a range of initiatives. But, as Laura Abramovsky writes, it is not yet clear that these have made any difference. Other factors may explain the productivity gap.
Long-term increases in living standards and prosperity depend on sustained growth in labour productivity (output per worker). In recent decades, the level of labour productivity in the UK has been low compared with that in competitor countries such as the France, Germany and the USA, and the Government has set itself a target of increasing the rate of labour productivity growth and narrowing this productivity gap. While the UK has succeeded in narrowing the productivity gap with these countries since the 1980s, there is no clear evidence of any significant acceleration or deceleration in the rate of catch-up since the current Labour Government came to power in 1997.
Authors
Laura Abramovsky
Laura is a Research Fellow at IFS. Her current work focuses on tax and social protection policy and programme evaluation in developing countries.
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