SCOTLAND has narrowed the gap between productivity in the country and the UK average, official figures suggest.
Jenny Stewart, Head of government and infrastructure for the KPMG accountancy firm in Scotland, noted the Office for National Statistics calculated that productivity in Scotland measured by output produced for every hour worked was 97.4 per cent of the UK average in 2015. That compares with 93.2 per cent in 2007, before the recession hit.
Glasgow achieved 92.7 per cent of the UK average, against 85.5 per cent in 2007.
Productivity in Aberdeen was 115 per cent of the UK average in 2015, versus 103 per cent in 2007.
Edinburgh’s productivity improved to 108 per cent of the UK level, from 107 per cent in 2007.
Ms Stewart noted: “Data from the past 12 months suggests strong increases in productivity in the oil and gas sector in 2016, which we would expect, given Aberdeen and the industry’s response to the fall in the oil price. Furthermore, the Glasgow City Deal 10-year investment programme has begun this year and is designed to support a further step-change in the region’s productivity.”
However, she noted UK productivity is low compared to international comparisons. Growth in UK productivity has slowed markedly since the financial crisis.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here