High employment should boost productivity - Hammond
Published Apr 17, 2018 12:56
High employment should boost productivity - Hammond
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's lacklustre rate of productivity growth should get a boost from record-high employment levels, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond told parliament on Tuesday.
Official data earlier on Tuesday showed the proportion of working-age Britons in employment in the three months to February was the highest since records began in 1971.
Earlier data showed that in the final two quarters of 2017, productivity - measured as output per hour worked - grew by the most since 2005 after a decade of stagnation.
"We should be very cautious about interpreting those (productivity) figures. But we should expect, as we see record levels of employment in the economy, record-high employment figures, we should expect that to drive the productivity performance of the UK economy," Hammond said.
Some economists partly blame Britain's weak productivity on rapid job growth, and expect that businesses will need to squeeze more out of existing staff - for example by investing in labour-saving technology - once hiring becomes harder.
Get The App
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.