Britain | Flat-lining

Jeremy Hunt wants to improve Britain’s public-sector productivity

AI and hybrid working might help, but how quickly?

A care worker makes notes in the home of an elderly woman.
Photograph: Panos

For more than a decade economists have been debating Britain’s “productivity puzzle”, an alliterative way of noting that British productivity growth has been peculiarly weak since 2008. The problem is especially chronic in public services (see chart), where productivity grew by just 0.2% a year on average between 1997 and 2019, according to new data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Flat-lining”

From the November 25th 2023 edition

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