Release: International Comparisons of Productivity, 2011 - Final Estimates

Output per hour In the UK was 16 percentage points below the average for the rest of the G7 major industrialised economies in 2011, the widest productivity gap since 1993. On an output per worker basis, UK productivity was 21 percentage points lower than the rest of the G7 in 2011

In 2011, UK output per hour grew roughly in line with the average of the rest of the G7, and faster than the US and Germany. UK output per worker was broadly flat in 2011

Since 2007, growth of UK output per hour and output per worker has trailed that of the US, Japan and Canada, but has been broadly similar to that of Germany, France and Italy. Thus the “productivity conundrum” is not unique to the UK

Outside the G7, UK output per hour in 2011 was significantly lower than in the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, and a little lower than Spain. Since 2007, growth of output per hour has been sluggish in Belgium and the Netherlands, but has recovered sharply in Spain and Ireland