Manufacturers urged to help tackle productivity puzzle

The programme kicks off with a webinar for manufacturers and those who work closely with the sector which EEF is hosting on Thursday 10^th May. On the webinar EEF will report on its initial comparisons of the performance of different subsectors within industry against each other domestically, and compared to our major international competitors.

EEF will report on its assessment of how these sectors compare and whether there are factors which might explain why some do better than others and why some sectors in the UK perform better or worse than their major competitors. Participants will then be invited to share specific insights to challenge or enhance EEF’s assessment. This crucial feedback will inform the second part of EEF’s work through to the Autumn Budget.

This will enable EEF to put forward policy recommendations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Business Secretary with the aim of building momentum for the Industrial Strategy and getting manufacturing productivity growth back on trend.

Commenting, Ms Lee Hopley, EEF Chief Economist, said: “Concerns about the UK’s productivity performance aren’t confined to economists and policy makers, we know this matters to businesses too and particularly innovative, export-focused manufacturers. With a long track record of making a strong positive contribution to the UK’s overall productivity performance, we attach a high importance to getting manufacturing productivity improvements back on trend after the disappointing decade we’ve experienced since the financial crisis.

“In order to do this industry and government need to understand where the pain points are and which levers we can pull to get results. This is what EEF’s latest research project is hoping to shed a lot more light on. Companies, business advisors and employees within manufacturing can help us get there by sharing best practice and highlighting the business environment challenges that are getting in the way of a productivity revival.”

The webinar will be held on Thursday 10^th May. Registration can be found here.