Addressing construction’s productivity puzzle is key to enhancing the industry recovery from covid-19, writes Kris Hudson
Measuring productivity is almost as difficult as improving productivity.
Various methods (such as output per hour, job or worker) are designed to gauge how efficiently resources are used. As pandemic restrictions lift and the UK economy unlocks, the ability to boost productivity is critical to support economic growth. This is particularly pressing given covid-19 and Brexit generated huge challenges around performance and resources – putting pressure on skills and availability of labour, supply chain capacity, project schedules and costs.
At a country level, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported that UK productivity was hit harder by the pandemic than any other G7 nation during 2020. GDP per hour worked fell by -19% from Q1 to Q2, significantly more than the next lowest – France – which declined by -11.2%. On an industry level, there was a similar trend in UK construction. Output per hour, measured by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), recorded a -7.9% drop in the sector’s productivity growth over the same period.
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