There have been plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about the British economy over the past year. Employment levels have hit record levels, and are among some of the highest in the world. Leaving the EU doesn’t seem to have dented growth much, and there is still plenty of investment pouring into the country. The budget deficit is slowly coming under control, and wages are still rising even if they are failing to keep pace with prices. There is, however, one huge problem. Our record on productivity has been dismal.
In the latest quarter, there has been a small upturn: the Office for National Statistics reported a 0.9 per cent improvement in output per worker in the latest quarter, the fastest rate of growth in six years. And yet, it will take a lot of quarters like that to make up for what amounts to a lost decade. Since 2006, productivity has only risen by a miserable 0.6
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