A league of their own

Transatlantic hybrid event featuring Clare Lombardelli and Jason Furman

Productivity growth is the main driver of raising living standards over time. Britain’s poor record in the 2010s – the lowest productivity growth of any G7 economy bar Italy – explains a large part of the long-term living standards slump we’re all living through. Things have got even worse in the 2020s, with official data suggesting growth of just 0.3 per cent per year between 2019 and 2024 – half the already weak growth rate of the 2010s. But the US has bucked this trend, growing by 9.1 per cent between 2019 and 2024. It’s the only G7 economy where productivity growth has accelerated in recent years.

What is driving the US’ impressive productivity outperformance? How does it differ from the UK, and what lessons can be drawn? And what can firms and policy makers do to reverse the UK’s productivity woes, and prevent another decade of economic stagnation in Britain?