The Financial Times:
Britain can only walk tall if productivity is reignited
19 March 2015
Here are three indicators of the extent to which the economy has gone ex-growth: real gross domestic product per head at the end of 2014 was much the same as at the end of 2006; real GDP per head at the end of 2014 was about 16 per cent below what it would have been if pre-crisis trends had continued; and GDP per hour was about 15 per cent below the pre-crisis trend. This productivity collapse is why employment has been so buoyant. But now that unemployment has fallen to 5.5 per cent, nearly all future growth depends on a productivity resurgence.
This article was published in The Financial Times on March 19, 2015
Link to article here
Related publications
Austerity: Growth Costs and Post-Election Plans, John Van Reenen, CEP Election Analyses Series, March 2015.
Related links
John Van Reenen webpage
Productivity and Innovation Programme webpage