Why does the UK have such low productivity compared other advanced economies?

[Fifi1010]

Our economic productivity has grown 0.8 percent per year on average since 2008 compared with 2 percent before. Why is that? High productivity increases the tax receipts , money for schools and healthcare. If we don't improve productivity living standards will further decline. Where have we gone wrong? I know Brexit is a problem but this started 8 years before.

I agree with this. It's been a disaster for this country in so many ways.

Much slower.....sometimes something like 10-12 months from offer accepted to move-in date. It's a joke and many people simply build their own place instead because its less hassle and not more expensive or more stressful.

I add that the German countryside currently has about 1.3 million vacant properties nationwide, most of which aren't expensive, but nobody wants the hassle of living in one of those places (plus a fair few of the locations are really tedious villages with no amenities, services or community spirit. Rural Germans are like this.

Well I don't have experience with the German house buying process. The Dutch one was completely hassle free, even if it did cost a bit more. When our offer was accepted we knew exactly when the move in date was, no way for the seller to back out.

Yep!

Yep to all that, especially the poor literacy and numeracy standards.

I'd argue poor managers, also as a country we undervalue any manual skill.

That's the same in the UK though. You get your completion date at exchange of contracts and you know exactly when you are going to move in, and the seller cannot back out without huge penalties.

The problem isn't so much the UK system, it's peoples lack of understanding of it, and believing that they have bought a house rather than simply making an offer on it.

You have not bought a house until you have exchanged contracts. Everything else up to that point is negotiation, although I see a lot of people claim to have "bought a house" even if it is only sold subject to contract.

We are productive.

We are just using the wrong metrics to measure productivity.

This isn't talked about nearly enough but it's really important because governments make awful poliecies when they don't understand this.

We're still using metrics that are based on manufacturing things and we're not a manufacturing economy. These metrics don't take into account computing power increases and what that allows and the knowledge and service economies are a core of our economy now.

Unfortunately the government ignore this and is likely to suggest dumb solutions like 'Oh people should fewer rights at work and then they'll work harder'

You don't get that it's getting to the exchange of contracts point that is painful?

That took 3 days in The Netherlands.

Have we solved it yet? Some brilliant people here. Should be able to crack it!

Productivity is not the be all and end all

The Uk economy’s is dominated by the services industry compared to other advanced economies such as Germany which is based on manufacturing. It is increasing hard to increase productivity in the services sector compared to other sectors and coupled with a lack of investment in technologies and human capital.therefore the UK’s productivity has lagged.

I live in England, but I'm from Ireland originally. I used to be a primary teacher here and now my son and daughter are at school here (one primary, one secondary). From my experience the UK education system seems entirely odd and baffling. I genuinely don't understand it and I don't think it leads to good outcomes for young people. TBH I feel bad that I've put my children through it - the Irish system is so much more sensible and effective that I wish they were learning there instead.

It wouldn't take very much to fix it and I think it'd make a massive difference to the country as a whole.

Productivity is a measure of investment and what workers produce.

This government does not (and previous ones) invest. Therefore neither do businesses.

Things like infrastructure- railways, roads etc. education. Health service.

Government should spend money because that money goes into the private sector which then drives more investment. Eg if they want to build, it goes to building companies. If they want to invest in green technology, it goes to private companies.

There’s a bizarre idea that government spending = bad. Drives me fucking nuts.

Productivity isn’t a simple measure of worker output.

Exactly @Believeitornot , but the government acts as though it is because that's what most people assume. Or what they assume most people assume.

@Echobelly But productivity is literally output per worker in a given fixed period of time (e.g. per hour). This takes into account extra output through improved technology, knowledge etc. the problem is that in the services industry, which the UK is primarily based on, it is hard to make further gains in productivity unless we dramatically increase human capital which takes a long time. It is much easier in the manufacturing sector. We can’t change the metric of productivity as ultimately output per worker, whatever it is called, determines the UK’s international competitiveness and economic performance.

No, it’s imaginary fairy money that pays for things.

As populations age, the UK is going to struggle to compete with the rest of the world for good people. It's a vicious circle

I do think this is a big issue, and more of our younger people will go abroad for a better QOL.

Poor investment in technology and technology related careers.

I agree.

It's interesting how car plants run with Japanese management were more productive than those with British management.

I nearly had a chance to work for car plant run by a Japanese firm but in the office. I was told that I needed to work certain hours that were exactly the same as those working in the plant.

Your can't expect people to work in technology if they don't have basic literacy and numeracy skills.

There are also lots of people who want to do the bare minimum and have constant tea and fag breaks. I’ve been in offices with people like these and they try to discourage others from going the extra mile in case it makes them look bad.

I’ve also been in back office roles in finance in London and it’s absolutely fucking relentless from the start of the day to the end, whenever that is. People churning work out like machines in some teams.

Wikipedia has the UK as 20th out of 69 countries and a lot of the countries above us are tiny rich nations such as Switzerland (8million) Netherlands (15 million) Singapore (5million). I am surprised that Italy and Spain have better productivity than the UK though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_labour_productivity