Productivity – how much is produced for a given input (such as an hour’s work) – is directly linked to living standards, with a country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time almost entirely dependent on productivity growth.
International comparisons of labour productivity show that the UK is ranked sixth among the G7 countries, with the US top and Japan bottom. In 2013, UK productivity was 16 percentage points below the G7 average, the widest productivity gap since 1991.