Productivity: Economic indicators

Economic indicators are quick-read summaries of the latest data focusing on different aspects of the UK economy. The full suite of indicators can be found on the main Economic Indicators page.

One of the most important factors in determining living standards is productivity – how much output is produced for a given input (such as an hour of work).

UK labour productivity

Prior to the financial crisis of 2007-2009, UK labour productivity had grown by around 2% per year. Since then, it has risen more slowly. Official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed productivity growth of 0.7% per year from 2009 to 2024.

However, a new approach to measuring productivity means that the ONS now thinks that annual UK productivity growth was higher at 1.1% per year from 2009 to 2024. The chart below shows the difference in the old and new approaches to measuring UK productivity.

Source: ONS, Component approach to measuring labour productivity, UK: 1997 to 2024, 17 Sep 2026, figure 1

The main cause of this upward revision to productivity is that the ONS now estimates that average hours worked in the economy to be lower – and declining faster – than previously thought.

Revised data based on this new methodology for 2025 and 2026 will not be published until mid-November 2026. Until then, the latest ONS flash estimate based on the old approach showed productivity was 2.3% higher in Q2 2026 compared with before the pandemic in Q4 2019.

International comparisons of productivity

Data released prior to the ONS’s new measurement approach showed that the UK ranked fourth highest out of the G7 countries on GDP per hour worked in 2023, with the US highest and Japan lowest. UK productivity was around 18% below the US.

Source: OECD, productivity levels, custom table of G7

Next updates

This page is updated when new data is published. The next source updates will be:

• ONS, Productivity flash estimate and overview, UK, 18 Nov 2026