Whole economy productivity and unit wage costs, United Kingdom
Over the whole economy there was a slowdown in UK unit wage cost growth during 2002 and strengthened productivity growth, measured as output per filled job.
Unit wage costs grew by 3.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2001 but fell to 1.5 per cent growth in the same quarter of 2002, reflecting weaker wage growth and stronger output. Meanwhile, year-on-year growth in output per filled job rose from 1.0 per cent in the final quarter of 2001 to 2.1 per cent in the same period of 2002.
Manufacturing productivity and unit wage costs, United Kingdom
The manufacturing sector was particularly hit by the economic slowdown at the end of 2001 and beginning of 2002. At the start of 2002, manufacturing unit wage costs were 2.6 per cent higher than in the year before as output contracted faster than employment. As output levelled off, unit wage cost growth eased to just 0.8 per cent in the final quarter of 2002.
Similarly, growth in output per job started 2002 weakly. It was as low as 0.2 per cent between the first quarters of 2001 and 2002. However, there was a gradual improvement during 2002 and by the final quarter growth was 3.3 per cent.
Sources: Whole economy data: National Accounts and Productivity Jobs, Office for National Statistics
Manufacturing data: Index of Production, Productivity Jobs and Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey, Office for National Statistics
Notes: UK output per filled job is the ratio of Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices and productivity jobs. Productivity jobs are the number of filled jobs and come from the same sources as the Workforce Jobs series; however, they have been compiled to maximise consistency with the GVA measure and are only used in productivity calculations.
Unit wage costs are a measure of the cost in terms of wages and salaries in producing a unit of output. To measure this for manufacturing the Average Earnings Index (AEI) which gives a measure of changes in wages and salaries is combined with Productivity jobs and GVA figures
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