Publication - Statistics

Labour productivity statistics: 2018 Q4

Published: 8 May 2019
Directorate: Chief Economist Directorate
Topic: Economy

This publication includes estimates of labour productivity for Scotland’s onshore economy up to the

fourth quarter of 2018 (October-December).

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).

Headline Results

In 2018 Quarter 4, labour productivity in Scotland, measured by output per hour worked, has increased by 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year.
Compared to the previous quarter, labour productivity is estimated to have grown by 0.5% in 2018 Quarter 4, following zero growth (0.0%) in the previous quarter.
In 2018, annual labour productivity increased by 3.8% compared to 2017, following decreases of 0.3% in 2017 and 1.3% in 2016.

What's included in this release?

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.

The topical section in this release presents new analysis which helps to break down the growth in productivity based on changes within industries and the labour force.

Supplementary Analysis

In response to user demand, a more detailed breakdown of labour productivity statistics has been developed and published alongside this 2018 Quarter 4 release.

Corrections

Correction 9 May 2019: The output per job series for Government Services in Tables X1 and X2 were initially published as duplicates of the Other Services results. This has now been corrected. This did not reflect errors in the underlying data or in any other results in the publication. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Correction 14 August 2019: An error was discovered in the calculation used for the reported annual average productivity growth for Scotland for the years 2007-2018. Average growth over this period was 0.9% per year instead of the 0.7% reported. (Users should note that this result has been further updated due to revisions in the 2019 Q1 estimates and now stands at 1.0% per year if calculated using the latest data) This did not reflect errors in the underlying data or in any other results in the publication. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.