Publication - Statistics

Labour productivity statistics: 2018 Q1

Published: 22 August 2018
Directorate: Chief Economist Directorate
Topic: Economy

This release contains estimates of labour productivity for Scotland’s onshore economy up to the first quarter of 2018 (January-March)

Labour Productivity measures the amount of economic output produced, on average, per unit of labour input and is an important indicator of economic performance within a country. More specifically, the statistics estimate output (Gross Value Added, GVA) produced per job filled and hour worked, and are presented in both real terms (inflation adjusted) and nominal terms (current prices).

KEY FINDINGS

This release contains estimates of labour productivity for Scotland’s onshore economy up to the first quarter of 2018 (January-March). Quarterly movements in labour productivity can be volatile, making short term trends difficult to discern. To aid interpretation, two methods of smoothing out this volatility are presented.
On a rolling annual basis to 2018 Quarter 1, comparing the most recent four quarters to the previous four quarters, labour productivity in Scotland, as measured by output per hour worked, decreased by 0.4% in real terms (inflation adjusted).
Additionally, this release contains a trend-based estimate of productivity growth. This indicates the underlying rate of change during the latest quarter by removing both seasonal and irregular (volatile) movements from the data. It is estimated that the trend in real output per hour worked increased by 1.7% in the first quarter of 2018.
This publication also includes estimates of output per job and current price productivity measures (not adjusted for inflation). Experimental estimates of labour productivity for broad industry groups are also available online.

ABOUT THIS RELEASE

This release reports quarterly and annual labour productivity estimates for the period between 1998 and 2018 Quarter 1 (January-March) covering total output in the onshore Scottish economy. Labour productivity measures the amount of economic output that is produced, on average, by each unit of labour input and is an important indicator of economic performance. Results are calculated in both real terms (inflation adjusted) and current prices (nominal, not adjusted for inflation).

Labour productivity is a derived statistic. This means that it is not directly estimated, but is based on separate estimates for economic output and labour input. Labour input measures in this release are consistent with NUTS1 results for countries and regions published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Output (gross value added, GVA) statistics are consistent with Scottish Government quarterly national accounts statistics.

Correction

18 September 2018 - A processing error was spotted in some of the experimental results published in tables X1 and X2. This only applied to the industry group results for 2009 onwards, and had no impact on other results in the publication or on the whole economy estimates. This has now been corrected. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.