Resolution Foundation says productivity is growing faster in Britain
Labour productivity in the United Kingdom is growing faster than official statistics indicate, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank. The researchers reached this conclusion after reassessing the latest productivity data using an alternative approach to estimating the workforce, The Guardian World reports.
Alternative employment estimate
Labour productivity reflects the amount of economic output per worker and is one of the key drivers of economic growth. The Resolution Foundation said it used a cross-section of employment data which, in the organisation's view, more accurately reflects the state of the workforce than the widely criticised Labour Force Survey.
Resolution Foundation chief economist Simon Pittaway said that the United Kingdom's weak productivity performance after the 2008 global financial crisis largely explains economic stagnation and slow growth in living standards. At the same time, he said, the alternative measure points to improving productivity in recent years, although official data indicate further deterioration in the mid-2020s.
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Not only artificial intelligence and job cuts
Some economists have linked a possible rise in average productivity to declining employment in relatively low-productivity sectors, including hospitality and retail. The Resolution Foundation rejects this explanation: the share of workers in hospitality is now no lower than it was in the late 2010s and is only slightly below its post-pandemic peak.
The think tank also does not believe that the positive trend can be explained solely by the early spread of artificial intelligence, as it is visible across different sectors of the British economy. In Pittaway's view, the productivity recovery was delivered by the same workers doing the same jobs in the same industries.
The Resolution Foundation report adds to more optimistic assessments of the British economy. Official data last week showed that in the first half of 2026, the United Kingdom was a joint G7 leader in the pace of economic growth. John Van Reenen, Rachel Reeves' former chief economic adviser, also published a blog post on a similar productivity reassessment conducted by him and colleagues at the London School of Economics.
