In the first quarter of 2005, whole economy productivity (measured by output per worker) increased by 1.3% compared with the same quarter in 2004, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, this is down on the most recent quarterly growth of 1.4%
The alternative measure of productivity – output per hour – showed that hourly productivity grew by 1% in the first quarter of 2005 compared with 2004.
Whole economy unit wage costs in the first quarter of 2005 grew by 3.2% compared with 2.6% in the last quarter. The faster rate of growth was due to a combination of an increase in average wages and a fall in productivity growth.
