Engendering a National Productivity Obsession

• Posted by # Probably42 May 18, 2021 - Filed in Business Ideas - 5,551 views

  Why would we want to Engender a National Obsession with Productivity?

   

  Organisations improving their productivity levels are able to invest more, generate more profit, pay more to the Exchequer and are more competitive.

   

  ‘A National Obsession with Productivity’ is something that would benefit us all and offers a common rallying call that the Government could adopt; not least because we have a long-term UK problem with productivity . It is also timely because technology advances, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), offer not just traditional improvements in productivity but order of magnitude improvements, where significant parts of jobs can be replaced and augmented.

   

  In addition, a ‘Productivity Obsession’ provides a common purpose and focus for growth, post-Brexit, post-pandemic and aligns with the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda and ambition to be a ‘science superpower’.

   

  The rewards of increased productivity for the country, if we can achieve it, are huge. We have a productivity gap with G7 countries of 16%. Forecasts suggest each 1% increase in productivity would increase our national output by £20bn, reducing the deficit by £8bn. 

  In our article on the topic Engendering a National Productivity Obsession we examine how we can make this happen.