• Webinar

Productivity Commission: first evidence session

The Productivity Commission’s first evidence session is on ‘Sizing the productivity problem: international, national, regional and sectoral aspects’. It will be live streamed on Tuesday 23 November 2021 from 09:00 onwards by our partners, NIESR.

Terms of reference

• What is the scale of the UK’s productivity problem, and how has this changed since 2008?
• Is productivity measured correctly in the UK, and is it measured differently across countries?
• How does the UK’s productivity compare on a regional basis?
• Why do some regions have better productivity growth than others?
• How does the UK’s productivity compare on a sectoral basis?
• Why do some sectors or firms have better productivity growth than others?
• Are the higher-performing companies a “tightly-knit bunch” geographically and sectorally, and how have they bucked the UK trend?
• Are the lower-performing companies confined to particular regions or sectors?
• What, if anything, is preventing lower-performing companies from learning how to be more productive from the higher-performing companies?
• How does the productivity of large companies compare with SMEs?
• How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected the UK’s productivity performance?
• How is the change in working habits (e.g. working from home, flexible working) affecting UK productivity?
• Have large city centres been affected with commuters and tourists staying away?
• What role has technology adoption and penetration played in productivity growth?