Labour productivity statistics: 2024

Key Points

• In 2024, productivity measured as output per hour worked is provisionally estimated to have fallen by 1.5% compared to 2023, after falling by 1.1% in 2023 and growing by 3.8% in 2022.
• The fall in annual productivity of 1.5% can be broken down into growth of 1.2% in gross value added (GVA) which was offset by a 2.8% increase in total hours worked.
• An alternative measure of labour productivity is annual output per job. Provisional estimates for 2024 show that output per job fell by 1.1% in 2024, after growing by 0.9% in 2023.
• Over the longer term since the financial crisis, between 2008 and 2024, productivity in Scotland has increased by an average of 0.8% per year. This compares to average annual growth of 0.4% for the UK as a whole, and 0.8% per year for the EU as a whole.
• These statistics have been re-designated as official statistics in development. This is due to higher levels of uncertainty in the labour input series in recent years, particularly hours worked, which are based on the Labour Force Survey.
• Average weekly hours and jobs figure for 2024 are provisional estimates at this time, and annual productivity growth can often vary widely from year to year. Therefore, analysis of longer-term trends can be of more interest to users than short-term movements.