BIS report confirms impact of ‘higher skills’ on productivity

Improvements in skills and education have boosted labour productivity in the UK in recent decades by around 20 per cent, according to a report commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The report UK Skills and Productivity in an International Context, published on 17 December, confirmed the importance of skills and education for Britain’s productivity saying that improvements in skills and education directly account for about a fifth of the increase in labour productivity in the UK in recent decades.

The institute’s research found that the UK performed well internationally in terms of higher skills—defined as a bachelors degree and above—and that there was “ample evidence on the impact of higher skills".