Reference tables: component approach to labour productivity, UK: 1997 to 2024

The Office for National Statistics has published reference tables underlying its component approach to labour productivity for the UK covering 1997 to 2024. The tables provide the absolute values that sit behind the earlier labour productivity release from 17 September, with estimates shown both in chained volume measures and in current prices.

The release is also designed to make the mechanics of the productivity calculation more transparent. Alongside productivity measures, it includes the component approach labour inputs used in the underlying calculations, such as jobs, workers and total hours worked. It also provides contribution measures showing how changes in individual labour components have affected movements in average actual hours worked per job relative to the 2008 average.

For FX traders, the significance is less about any single month or quarter and more about the broader trend: productivity growth influences the pace at which the economy can expand without stoking inflation, and it helps frame expectations for wages and the policy reaction function over time. Since the tables are consistent with Blue Book 2026 Quarterly National Accounts, they also serve as a coherent basis for linking productivity narratives to the national accounts framework.

What to watch next is whether subsequent ONS releases and related national accounts updates show a clear shift in productivity and in the composition of labour inputs—particularly changes that alter the implied balance between hours, jobs and workers.