Labour Swings to Low Productivity

New research from the Office for National Statistics suggests a shift in employment from highly productive industries to less productive ones has led to a downturn in productivity.
 
An assessment across all sectors of the UK economy reveals some industries, such as financial services and manufacturing, have experienced a sharp slowdown in hourly output by workers since the financial crisis.
 
Since the recession, there has been a shift away from more efficient areas like mining to less productive ones such as food and drinks services.
 
In financial services, figures show rapid growth in productivity contributed 1.6 percentage points to overall productivity growth during the five years prior to the crisis. In the past five years, however, the sector has contributed just 0.2 percentage points.
 
The research showed significant regional differences. London, the most productive region, achieved output 33% higher than the UK average