UK productivity slowdown worst since Industrial Revolution – study

Researchers found slowdown from the pre-2008 growth trends almost four times that of 1930s

The slowdown in Britain's productivity growth over the last decade is the worst since the start of the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago, a dismal track record that is holding back gains in living standards across the country.

Research from academics at the University of Sussex and Loughborough University shows that the productivity growth slowdown since the 2008 financial crisis is nearly twice as bad as the previous worst decade for efficiency gains, 1971-1981, and is unprecedented in more than two centuries.