The productivity of UK workers is lagging behind most of the world’s wealthiest nations, official figures revealed today.
Gross domestic product (GDP) per worker in the UK - a broad measure for the value of goods per person in the country - fell relative to all G7 countries except Italy and Germany last year.
Overall, UK GDP per worker was only higher than Japan’s measure in 2010, Britain's Office for National Statistics said, while the productivity gap between the UK and US, the G7 leader, in 2010 was the widest since 1994.
The ONS also said productivity growth in the UK in 2010 was less than the G7 average in terms of both GDP per worker and GDP per hour worked.
The dismal figures are likely to raise concerns over the UK’s fragile economic recovery and growth prospects this year, after a raft of economic data pointed towards a recent poor performance.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said low research and development spending, diverting resources to the less-productive public sector and education inefficiencies in the UK have hit productivity.
He said: “It is to be hoped that going forward that the sharp pruning of the public sector and the necessary increased focus on the private sector to lead the economy forward will lead to improvements in productivity.
“The Government will certainly be hoping that over time its micro reforms will provide an environment in which businesses are more prepared to engage in longer-term investment and employment plans and commit to boost employees’ skills.”
Mr Archer added that cutbacks in investment between 2008 and 2009 will have had serious long-term negative repercussions for UK productivity.