UK productivity flash estimate: April to June 2023

• In Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2023, preliminary estimates of UK output per hour worked were 0.1% above the same quarter a year ago, and 1.4% above their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level. 

• In Quarter 2 2023, preliminary estimates of UK output per worker were flat (0.0%) compared with the same quarter a year ago.  

• Relative to the same quarter a year ago, the administrative services industry made the biggest positive industry contribution to annual productivity growth. 

• Relative to the same quarter a year ago, the finance and insurance, energy, and mining and quarrying industries made the biggest negative contributions to annual productivity growth.

The labour productivity flash estimate uses the latest labour market statistics detailed in our Labour Market Overview bulletin and the gross value added (GVA) first quarterly estimates to provide the first look at UK productivity for Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2023. 

This publication covers two measures of labour productivity: output per hour worked and output per worker. Details of these measures are in Table 1: The latest productivity statistics.

Preliminary estimates of UK output per hour worked for Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2023 increased by 0.1% relative to a year earlier, Quarter 2 2022. Gross value added (GVA) grew by 0.4%, while the number of hours worked grew by 0.3%.

UK output per hour worked increased by 0.7% in Quarter 2 2023 compared with the previous quarter. This was due to an increase in GVA (0.2%), and a decrease in the number of hours worked (negative 0.5%).

Note: the coronation of King Charles III on 6 May 2023 led to an additional bank holiday on Monday 8 May. This should be considered when interpreting the variation in hours worked in Quarter 2 2023, the comparison with the previous quarter (Quarter 1 2023), the comparison with a quarter a year ago (Quarter 2 2022) and the consequent impact on output per hour worked.

We also report output per worker as a measure of productivity. This is the ratio of total output relative to the number of workers.

Preliminary estimates of UK output per worker for Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2023 was flat (0.0%) relative to a year earlier, with the growth in the number of workers offsetting growth in GVA (0.4%).

UK output per worker increased by 0.4% in Quarter 2 2023 compared with the previous quarter. This was driven by a quarterly increase in the GVA (0.2%), and a decrease in the number of workers (negative 0.2%).

Figure 3 shows the contribution to growth in output per hour worked for 17 industries in Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2023 relative to the same quarter a year ago. The administrative services industry made the biggest positive industry contribution to productivity growth. By contrast, the finance and insurance, energy, and mining and quarrying industries made the biggest negative contributions to annual productivity growth. Other services (a residual category, including personal service activities not covered elsewhere in our  Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007) and agriculture industries made negligible contributions to productivity growth over the same period.

The between-industry reallocation made a positive contribution to productivity growth over the past year, showing that on average, economic activity shifted mostly from industries with lower productivity to industries with higher productivity.

Figure 4 shows the decomposition of the annual growth in output per hour worked between GVA and hours worked in Quarter 2 2023 compared with the same quarter a year ago (Quarter 2 2022). In the construction and manufacturing industries the growth in productivity was driven by a larger increase in GVA than the increase in hours worked. In the non-manufacturing production industries the decrease in productivity was driven by a larger decrease in GVA than the increase in hours worked. In the service industry growth was flat as GVA and hours worked grew at the same pace.

Gross value added (GVA) 

The value generated by any unit engaged in production and the contributions of individual sectors or industries to gross domestic product. 

Labour productivity 

Labour productivity measures how many units of output are produced for each unit of labour input and is calculated by dividing output by labour input. 

Labour inputs 

The preferred measure of labour input is hours worked ("productivity hours"), but workers or jobs ("productivity jobs") are sometimes used. 

Output 

Output is measured by GVA in chained volume measures (CVM), which is an estimate of the volume of goods and services produced for final use by an industry, and in aggregate for the UK, after adjusting for price changes. It is calculated as turnover (sales) minus purchases (intermediate consumption). 

Allocation effect 

An allocation effect represents changes in the mix of activities in the economy between firms or industries that have various levels of productivity. Resources moving from low to high productivity industries creates a positive allocation effect, while movement from high to low productivity industries creates a negative allocation effect.

This release uses the first available information on output and labour input for Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2023. These data may be revised when we release the more detailed  Productivity overview article in October 2023. 

This release uses gross value added (GVA) from our  GDP first quarterly estimate bulletin to determine output. Labour market data are from the Labour market overview statistical bulletin. Estimates of the productivity time series for previous time periods have been revised and therefore may not be consistent with the labour productivity national statistics. 

New estimates of GVA are more volatile on a quarterly basis, especially in production industries. This reflects the use of new data and methods, but also challenges in reconciling quarterly and annual data, as explained in our Recent challenges of balancing the three approaches of GDP article. As productivity is a structural feature of the economy, we continue to advise users to focus on long-term trends of productivity. 

The population totals used for the latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates use projected growth rates from Real Time Information data for UK, EU and non-EU populations based on 2021 patterns. The total population used for the LFS therefore does not account for any changes in migration, birth rates, death rates, and so on, since June 2021. As such, any levels estimates may be under-or over-estimating the true values and should be used with caution. Estimates of rates will, however, be robust. 

More details on the flash by industry methodology is described in the "Guidance" tab of our Flash productivity by section dataset and the Labour productivity quality and methodology information (QMI) that will be updated and published in the following weeks.