UK productivity growth is weakest since second world war, says ONS

As data shows 0.2% drop in output, two-thirds of leading UK economists say coalition austerity has been bad for the economy

David Cameron has presided over an economy with the weakest productivity record of any government since the second world war, the Office for National Statistics said as it revealed output per worker fell again in the final three months of 2014.

The ONS said productivity decreased by 0.2% in the third quarter of the financial year, leaving output per hour worked little changed on the previous year and slightly lower than in 2007, before the UK's longest and deepest modern recession.

Related: Government keen to crow about jobs created - less so productivity