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2025-07-28 19:24:09
[Is the UK public sector productivity showing a "false" recovery? The actual level is still less than 8% before the epidemic] ⑴ According to the data from the UK National Statistics Office (ONS), the UK public sector productivity increased by 1.0% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, the fastest growth rate in two years. ⑵ This figure is higher than the annual growth rate of 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2024, and the productivity growth rate for the whole year of 2024 has also been revised up from a decline of 0.3% to an increase of 0.1%. ⑶ Despite the improvement, public sector productivity is still 4.2% lower than before the epidemic, among which the productivity in the medical service sector is nearly 9% lower than in 2019, returning to the level of 2012. ⑷ This means that the British people need to pay more taxes to get the same public services as before the epidemic. ⑸ This also exacerbates the budget challenges facing the British government and may lead to public dissatisfaction with the main political parties. ⑹ ONS pointed out that it is difficult to measure the productivity of the public sector, and the data is still in a "developmental" state and may be revised in the future. ⑺ The market’s focus should be on whether long-term productivity can return to pre-epidemic levels rather than a short-term rebound.
