Labour productivity statistics: 2022

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

Key Results

• In 2022 annual output per hour worked increased by 2.0% compared to 2021, after falling by 0.8% in 2021 and by 1.6% in 2020. Annual output per hour worked in 2022 is 0.4% below the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

• In 2022, the annual productivity growth of 2.0% can be broken down into GDP growth of 4.9% offset by a 2.9% increase in total hours worked, as economic activity continued to recover from the large drop in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

• The alternative measure of productivity, output per job, increased by 2.2% in 2022, after increasing by 9.3% in 2021 and falling by 12.2% in 2020. The much larger movements in output per job over recent years reflect the changes in average weekly hours during periods when workers were furloughed and economic activity was restricted.

• Over the longer term since the financial crisis, between 2008 and 2022, productivity in Scotland has increased by an average of 1.0% per year. This compares to average annual productivity growth of 0.9% for the OECD as a whole, 0.9% for the EU 27 as a whole, and 0.5% per year for the UK as a whole.

Full publication and data

The full publication and downloadable data are available on the data.gov.scot website.

 

About these statistics

Labour productivity measures the amount of economic output, defined as gross value added (GVA) that is produced, on average, by each unit of labour input, and is an important indicator of economic performance.

This publication contains a brief summary of the key results from the latest productivity statistics, focussing in on the headline measures of change in output per hour worked.

The key results are presented in real terms, i.e. where the effect of price changes has been removed to allow for meaningful comparisons over time. Estimates are for Scotland’s onshore economy.

This release also presents analysis which helps to break down the growth in productivity based on changes within industries and the labour force.