A FEW years ago the traffic lights around Trafalgar Square in London had a makeover. In dwelling of the usual green man,which flashes when it is safe to cross the road, some lights had an image fitted of a same-sex couple holding hands. Timed to coincide with a gay-pride parade, or the change was meant to symbolise London’s cosmopolitanism. But some economists joked that it was a symbol of something fairly different. Where once a single worker was able to shepherd pedestrians across the road,two are now required. What better metaphor for Britain’s woeful labour-productivity growth?It is little wonder that economists see weak productivity wherever they glance. Britain has had a decade of barely any growth in the amount of output per hour of work (see chart). In the long term, productivity determines how much workers score paid. Stagnation over the past decade has thereby left Britons’ pay packets some 20% smaller than they would otherwise contain been. It has also pressed down on the government’s tax...
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Source: economist.com