§ Mr. StunellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research his Department has conducted on ways of calculating productivity levels in terms of resource use as well as in terms of labour; what conclusions he has reached; and if he will make a statement. [75249]
§ Ms HewittThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Andrew Stunell, dated 12 March 1999:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on the research that has been conducted into how to calculate productivity levels.International productivity comparisons using output per worker convey useful information, but there is scope to improve the measure of productivity. Therefore the ONS Departmental Spending Review has recently allocated funding to create a new unit, which will take forward research into developing the current range of statistics available. As well as improvements to the existing estimates of output per filled job, the ONS is planning to produce a productivity series based on hours worked. The development of indices of service sector output, now being studied, would also facilitate the generation of productivity measures for the service sector. This extensive work programme reflects users' demand.Productivity measures in terms of resource used raise considerable difficulties. These relate, amongst other things, to measurement of capital and the problems of weighting capital and labour. There are at present no plans to produce such a measure.The ONS will keep users informed of any developments through the publication of articles in, for example, Economic Trends.