During the Covid-19 pandemic Northern Ireland (NI) saw its largest improvement in productivity, moving up from last to 7th place amongst the UK’s twelve regions. But in last year’s dashboard it fell back to 10th. Has NI’s progress stalled, or is its productivity still improving?
Productivity measures the total value of output produced in the economy for a given amount of work. Higher productivity means more competitive businesses, higher wages, and more money available to invest in public services.
The most recent data shows that NI’s productivity was 12.4% below the UK average in 2023. This is an improvement from our 2024 dashboard, with the gap narrowing from 13.2%, and NI improving from 10th to 8th place. While NI remains below its 2021 high of 7th place, it suggests the productivity gains of the pandemic have not been lost.
Despite this relative improvement, NI’s level of productivity is unchanged. This means NI’s productivity growth has stalled since the pandemic, with productivity no higher than in 2021. NI’s improved ranking therefore reflects other regions falling behind, alongside ONS data revisions lowering their recent performance.
NI’s productivity continues to lag behind the Republic of Ireland (ROI), where productivity is approximately 9% higher than the UK, and 25% higher than NI.
To understand why NI’s productivity growth has stalled, our dashboard measures NI’s productivity potential by examining how it performs across key drivers of long-run productivity growth. This year, our total number of drivers increases from 18 to 20, as we introduce three new measures – management practices, lifelong learning, and EV charging points – based on our recent report, NI Productivity 2040; and we remove 5G mobile coverage.
Authors: Ruth Donaldson (Queen’s University Belfast), David Jordan (Queen’s University Belfast), Seán McDonald (Queen’s University Belfast), John Turner (Queen’s University Belfast)
