Extra funds for new roads, research and development and skills training will drive up UK productivity and put the economy in a better position to withstand the looming Brexit shock.
That was the central message in Philip Hammond’s autumn statement and went to the heart of a debate about the UK’s low productivity growth, which according to official figures, has fallen well behind Germany, the US, France and Italy.
“The productivity gap is well known, but shocking nonetheless,” Hammond said on Wednesday. “It takes a German worker four days to produce what we make in five, which means, in turn, that too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their counterparts.”