Productivity fell by 0.5 per cent between April and the end of June compared with a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said. Both the services and manufacturing sectors suffered a fall in labour productivity growth, with declines of 0.8 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively. Low productivity is damaging for the economy because it means that companies are struggling to produce more with the same resources. As a result employers are unable to increase wages faster than prices and living standards stagnate. Productivity was growing by 2 per cent a year in…

Source: The Times October 08, 2019 11:03 UTC