Produtividade Reino Unido, Luxemburgo e Portugal

No JdN do passado dia 20 de Fevereiro várias páginas são dedicadas ao crescimento do turismo, nomeadamente o artigo "Receitas disparam mais de 5% no arranque do ano." O turismo cresce, o seu peso no PIB do país cresce, mas a sua contribuição para a produtividade agregada não deve ser muito positiva. Basta pensar no choradinho dos empresários do sector sempre a pedir imigrantes baratos "porque senão o sector pára."

Um aparte, o Luxemburgo tem uma produtividade elevada porque ... há uma concentração de serviços financeiros. O Luxemburgo é um dos principais centros financeiros do mundo, especialmente em fundos de investimento, private banking e seguros. As atividades financeiras geram um alto valor agregado por trabalhador, elevando a produtividade média do país.

No FT do mesmo dia 20 de Fevereiro encontro o artigo, "Britain's productivity puzzle turns into a crisis". Gráfico neste postal do LinkedIn.

"If the official data can be believed, it is time to panic about the UK economy's efficiency. [Moi ici: Aqui acho que eficácia ficava melhor do que eficiência] Britain's longstanding productivity puzzle is turning into a crisis and the result will be feeble improvements in living standards, weak public finances and discontent in the country's governance. Growth in output per hour worked fell after the global financial crisis, rising only 0.7 per cent a year instead of the pre-2008 2 per cent rate. The most recent data shows labour productivity decisively below this meagretrend.

The proximate causes of the original "productivity puzzle" are now reasonably well understood. While improvements in efficiency deteriorated across broad areas of the economy, the prime driver in the declining growth rate was that Britain's best sectors, best companies and best regions had lost much of their pre-2008 momentum. Advanced manufacturing, professional services, finance and London's economy were no longer pulling away from the rest of the UK." [Moi ici: City of London e a sua área financeira tem sofrido com o Brexit ... Luxemburg rings a bell]

"The underlying drivers of the current crisis are different. The Office for National Statistics has found a "batting average" effect where more people are now employed in low-productivity sectors. This drags down overall rates, reflecting both the growing need for elderly care and a temporary recent surge in lower-skilled migration.

...

There has been a general malaise affecting most sectors of the economy. The Competition and Markets Authority puts this down to a fall in business dynamism, evidenced by fewer people moving jobs, company start-ups and closures declining and fewer young companies displacing more established players in their sectors."