The U.K.’s worst productivity slump in a quarter of a millennium may be caused by a “perfect storm” of three factors, according to a study to be published this week.
Productivity was almost 20% below its pre-2008 path in 2018 — the worst slowdown since 1760-1800, as the Industrial Revolution took hold. The present-day malaise may have been caused by the end of the information and communications technology boom, the financial crisis, and Brexit.
It’s a “shockingly bad” performance, said Nicholas Crafts, who co-authored the paper with Terence Mills, researchers at the University of Sussex and Loughborough University. The findings will published by the National Institute Economic Review on Feb. 6.
![](https://yalibnan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/output-per-emplyee-UK-1024x626.jpg)
Though technology gave a substantial boost to productivity around the turn of the 21st century, it contributed less than a quarter of that in the decade since 2008.
A new revolution may be on the horizon with artificial intelligence but this has yet to have a significant impact, the economists said.
At the same time, Brexit has meant top managers have had to turn their focus to planning, and also led to a relative shrinking of highly productive exporters compared with less efficient domestically orientated firms.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint
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