About this data

Source: ONS, Component approach to measuring labour productivity, UK: 1997 to 2024 (September 2026)

• Both measures divide the same GDP figures by hours worked. The previous measure takes hours from the Labour Force Survey, which asks people how many hours they worked. ONS found that this overstates hours, increasingly so since 2008.
• The new 'component' measure starts from usual paid hours in each job, from employers' payroll records (the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings), and takes off leave, sickness and other absences. It shows hours growing more slowly since 2008, so output per hour grows faster.
• On the new measure, output per hour grew by 2.0% a year before 2008 and 1.3% a year in 2009–2019, against 2.1% and 0.7% on the previous one. Output per worker, which doesn't depend on hours, is little changed.
• The trend lines continue each measure's 1997–2007 growth. The jump in 2020 reflects the pandemic: lower-paid, lower-output jobs were more likely to stop.
• ONS will use the new measure in its headline productivity statistics from November 2026.

This chart appears in Economic growth and productivity.