Employment up, productivity down. Why?

[Anna B 1,414]

We keep hearing about all the people who are now in work, and that unemployment is now as low as it was in 1975. Can somebody explain in that case, why productivity is down?

 

If more people are working then surely productivity etc should be increasing in line with it. So what's gone wrong, or are the figures wrong?

[Weazel2006 27]

the magical power of zero hour contracts on unemployment figures

[monkey104 10]

Maybe more people are being employed in the leisure and service industries or other employment where there is no tangible product.

[Weazel2006 27]

I would take figures with a pince of salt, in the coming years the economy is going to swing around rapidly to make up for shortfalls so I would expect unemployment to rise considerably in the medium term, only to settle on more productive work which will lead to more stable figures over time with some productivity rises.

[Anna B 1,414]

the magical power of zero hour contracts on unemployment figures

 

And massive self-employment, where the self employed are working for less than minimum wage before going bust in the first 12 months.

 

---------- Post added 18-05-2017 at 00:54 ----------

 

Maybe more people are being employed in the leisure and service industries or other employment where there is no tangible product.

 

No, I believe these jobs are also measured by 'productivity,' so they will be included in the figures.

[Obelix 11]

We keep hearing about all the people who are now in work, and that unemployment is now as low as it was in 1975. Can somebody explain in that case, why productivity is down?

 

If more people are working then surely productivity etc should be increasing in line with it. So what's gone wrong, or are the figures wrong?

 

The number of people working doesnt mean in increase in productivity. It may well result in an increase in production but they are not the same thing. Productivity is the amount of work per hour of time and if you set new people on a job then although your production may well modestly increase, your productivity will fall as they are inexperienced and it takes them time to learn the ropes.

[silentP 10]

the magical power of zero hour contracts on unemployment figures

 

There's a lot of truth in that statement.

[Cyclone 10]

The number of people working doesnt mean in increase in productivity. It may well result in an increase in production but they are not the same thing. Productivity is the amount of work per hour of time and if you set new people on a job then although your production may well modestly increase, your productivity will fall as they are inexperienced and it takes them time to learn the ropes.

 

That isn't what is accounting for the phenomena that Anna describes though.

We don't have 1.5 million people all in the first month of a job and slowing down a colleague who is teaching them.

[Afilsdesigne 10]

Productivity is a measure of the amount of work done by an employee over a period of time. Countries like Germany have higher productivity that us because they have invested more in modern machinery. It isn't that they work harder or faster than British workers, just that, with the help of machinery, they turn out more products in the same amount of time. I guess eventually, all the jobs that can be automated will be, and it will become a battle of the machine designers as to whose machine bashes out products the fastest. So you could argue that productivity is a measure of how much businesses invest in new equipment. Sadly, Britain lags behind on this area and needs to catch up.

[Obelix 11]

That isn't what is accounting for the phenomena that Anna describes though.

We don't have 1.5 million people all in the first month of a job and slowing down a colleague who is teaching them.

 

Never said we did I was just using it as an illustration between productiona dn productivity thats all.

[El Cid 220]

Low unemployment is good, it is bad for peoples self esteem and health if they are not working; but the benefits system must support people into work, which I am not sure it does.

[I1L2T3 10]

the magical power of zero hour contracts on unemployment figures

 

And fake self-employment with income topped up by tax credits.