Productivity

Debate between Lord Green of Deddington and Lord Henley

Tuesday 7th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My noble friend is right to stress that it is very difficult to measure productivity, but I think we all agree that our productivity levels are lower than those of a lot of other members of the G7 and that we want to do something about them. My noble friend is also right to say that there is the compensating factor—I am very grateful to him for underlining it—of record levels of employment in this country. We can be very proud of that.

[Lord Green of Deddington (CB)]

My Lords, among other matters, does the Minister consider that the availability of a virtually unlimited supply of hard-working and low-paid workers might be a disincentive to investment and therefore have some impact on productivity?

[Lord Henley]

Obviously the level of employees coming in from other countries has an influence on wages and employment in this country. The noble Lord is right to point that out.