Low productivity in the UK, in particular in manufacturing, was a constant concern of the 1970s. However, during the 1980s and 1990s a "productivity miracle" was widely announced, and some of Britain's car plants were claimed to be the most productive in Europe and in some cases on a par with Japan. Yet new concerns have surfaced, reflecting recognition that the miracle may have been less substantial than it appeared at the time.
A government seminar held in June 1998 highlighted the UK's problem of low productivity, with new statistics suggesting that British productivity is half that of Japan and lags behind France and Germany.
Low productivity in the UK, in particular in manufacturing, was a constant concern of the 1970s. However, during the 1980s and 1990s a "productivity miracle" was widely announced, and some of Britain's car plants were claimed to be the most productive in Europe and in some cases on a par with Japan. Yet new concerns have surfaced, reflecting recognition that the miracle may have been less substantial than it appeared at the time.
In June 1998, a government seminar on competitiveness heard figures from the consultants McKinsey which claimed that UK labour productivity was half that in Japan. Figures from countries such asFrance and Germany suggest that productivity, after rising relatively slowly during the 1980s, outstripped Britain in the 1990s.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has called for a new "national economic purpose" to deal with continuing underperformance. In a speech in June, John Monks, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, stated that Britain needed to shake off its current complacency about low unemployment. He said that productivity levels were 20%-30% below those of France and Germany, and argued that labour market deregulation, far from pushing Britain to the top of the productivity league, had undermined long-term productivity growth.
The issue is not new. Figures for the 1980s show UK value-added per head in manufacturing improving in relation to France and Germany, but in 1988 these countries were still around 30% more productive than the UK. The lead seems to have been retained 10 years later. Many figures are also in dispute, with some suggesting that UK manufacturing productivity is in fact on a par with that of Japan. However, there seems to be agreement on a relative slow-down in Britain in the late 1990s, in which the high value of the GBP played a part.
What may also have changed is the public climate, with more awareness of economic growth in the rest of Europe and with increased interest in social partnership as a means of sustaining long-run performance. Efforts by the Government to improve productivity also stress "best practice", recognising that some UK plants attain world standards but that there is a long "tail" of poor producers. The concern is to bring such firms closer to the best (UK9805121F).
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (1998), The return of the productivity problem, article.
