The average amount of economic output produced per job and per hour worked in Scotland
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Labour productivity measures the amount of economic output that is produced, on average, by each unit of labour input, and is an important indicator of economic performance. Labour productivity statistics for Scotland are produced by the Scottish Government and have been designated as Official Statistics.
Labour productivity is a derived statistic which means that it is not directly estimated, but is based on separate estimates for economic output and labour input. It is calculated by dividing a measure of output (gross value added, GVA) by a measure of input (number of jobs or total number of hours worked). An increase in GVA or a decrease in jobs/hours contributes toward an increase in labour productivity whilst a decrease in GVA or an increase in jobs/hours contributes toward a decrease. Labour input is measured in terms of the number of jobs in the economy (giving a measure of output per job), and also the total number of hours worked (giving output per hour worked). Output per hour worked is usually viewed as the most comprehensive indicator of whole economy labour productivity and taken as the headline measure. Output statistics (gross value added, GVA) are sourced from Scottish Government quarterly national accounts statistics. Labour input measures (number of jobs filled and number of hours worked) are consistent with the quarterly NUTS1 results for countries and regions published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The two measures of quarterly labour productivity growth in this dataset, detailed below, are calculated using a seasonally adjusted based estimate of productivity which removes recurring seasonal features. For data relating to annual (calendar year) labour productivity, see the Labour Productivity: Annual dataset.
• q-on-q year ago is the percentage change (growth rate) over the year, comparing the latest quarter to the same quarter of the previous year. This growth rate is usually taken as the headline measure of quarterly labour productivity growth.
• q-on-q is the percentage change (growth rate) for the latest quarter compared to the previous quarter. This can be used to identify underlying short term changes in a more timely way than the q-on-q year ago measure.
The productivity measures are in real terms (adjusted for inflation) and are suitable for analysis of changes in performance over time. The seasonally adjusted series is indexed to a reference year (2018=100) in order to be consistent with the GDP statistics published by the Scottish Government. An index value of more than 100 means that productivity is higher than in the reference year, and a value of less than 100 means that output is lower than in the reference year.
The indices are rounded to 4 decimal places and the growth rate measures are rounded to 1 decimal place. It is not always possible to replicate the published growth rates using rounded data, but all results are also available unrounded in the downloadable spreadsheets from the latest publication.
Further information about these statistics and the methods used to produce them is available in the background notes of the latest statistical bulletin and in the accompanying methodology document.
The data on labour productivity does not contain any personal information.
Scotland's Labour Productivity Statistics are designated as Official Statistics. All Official Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs and are produced free from any political interference.
Labour productivity estimates are derived statistics produced using simple calculations on other source statistics. Their quality and accuracy is therefore dependent on the output and labour input data. While there are some known issues with the consistency between GVA and labour market statistics due to factors including the different survey sources, workforce residency and commuting effects, and differing definitions of business unit classifications, the data sources used to produce these estimates are all individually recognised to be of high quality and are designated as such.
Alternative statistics are available from the Office for National Statistics which are consistent with the NUTS1 Gross Value Added (Balanced approach) produced for all countries and regions of the UK. ONS estimates of GVA differ from Scottish Government estimates because of adjustments made by the Scottish Government during the production of Supply and Use Tables which balance estimates of GVA using Production and Expenditure data sources as well as Income.
Estimates of labour productivity are derived directly from GVA statistics, and are often analysed alongside GVA and GDP. It is therefore important that productivity statistics should be used in context with the GVA data they are consistent with. For users of Scottish Government GDP and Quarterly National Accounts Scotland statistics, the recommended productivity statistics are those published by the Scottish Government. Users of ONS Regional GVA statistics are recommended to continue using the ONS Regional Productivity statistics as a consistent product. Likewise, users who focus primarily on productivity statistics should ensure that any comparison to GVA or GDP makes reference to the consistent product.
For other tables, commentary and more methodology please visit the Labour Productivity statistics webpages on gov.scot.
Labour productivity is an important indicator of economic performance.
The timings of future releases of labour productivity statistics is currently under review. Further information will be provided in due course.
Labour productivity estimates are derived using simple calculations on other source statistics and any revisions to these sources of data have a consequent impact on the productivity estimates.
Labour input data are constrained to the ONS quarterly regional productivity jobs and hours. The latest two quarters labour input series are provisional, and based on underlying labour market data at the industry level, constrained to the ONS estimates up to 2021 Quarter 2.
Quarterly movements of labour productivity can be volatile, making short term trends difficult to discern. This is seen even after seasonal adjustment of the series. In the most recent release, all results are seasonally adjusted for the first time after we have stopped using a smoother trend-based labour input series. This is because the methodology used to produce the smoother trends would not give an accurate reflection of movements during the coronavirus pandemic.
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