Jon Boys, labour market economist at the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said:
“Today’s statistics confirm that poor productivity still haunts the UK economy. Worse still, it’s actually down on the same quarter of last year.
“Businesses may have more immediate concerns than raising productivity, but it’s the only way to increase pay packets in the long term. We mustn’t be fooled by recent strong earnings growth figures, which have been driven by a tight labour market and not an increase in employers’ ability to pay.
“Though we talk of a productivity puzzle, there is an obvious culprit and that’s uncertainty. Government needs to reduce uncertainty, so businesses aren’t deterred from investing for the future. We need to see more money being put into skills and people management training given our service dominated economy, where the knowledge and talents of individuals are what gives UK PLC its USP.”
