The UK’s
‘productivity puzzle’ has been described by Chancellor George Osborne as, “the challenge of our time”, and is,
according to the Office for National Statistics, “unprecedented in the post-war period.” Despite the general
economic recovery from the 2008/09 recession, productivity – essentially the
amount of output firms produce for the amount of input expended, measured by
gross value-added (GVA) per hour worked – has flat-lined, as shown in Figure 1.
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| Figure 1, Source: Office for National Statistics |
