EEF urges UK manufacturers to help boost the country’s productivity performance

The manufacturers’ organisation, EEF, is urging the UK’s manufacturers to help boost the country’s productivity performance and get growth ‘back on trend’ through its major work programme ahead of the Autumn Budget Statement.

This programme is set to start on Thursday 10 May when the EEF will host a webinar, for manufacturers and those who work closely with the sector, to report on initial comparisons of the performance of different subsectors within the industry both domestically and internationally.

During the webinar, the EEF will report on its assessment of how these specific 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.

Through this feedback, EEF will compile recommendations to be put forward to the chancellor of the exchequer and business secretary in order to build momentum for the industrial strategy and getting manufacturing productivity growth back on trend.

“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,” stated Lee Hopley, EEF chief economist. “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.”