PRODUCTIVITY IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28016, 10 July 1956, Page 10

PRODUCTIVITY IN BRITAIN

Claim Of “Highest In Europe” (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) <Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, July 9. Output a head in British industry remains the highest in Europe in snite of highly-publicised increases in other countries, the British Productivity Council claimed in London today. The rate increased by 2| per cent, last year against 3 per cent, in the two previous years—-a check due to the Government’s anti-inflationary spending restrictions, but it was 60 per cent, greater than the average for the prewar years. The council—a research organisation set up by British industrialists to boost production—said that the best firms in Britain are fully equal to. and in some cases better than, the best in the United States. The council admitted, however, that the latest methods and techniques were less widespread in Britain, which could enjoy a standard of living second to none if all her industries and services adopted the dynamic and progressive approach which now existed in some nations. 'Hie council added a warning that British productivity was not yet high enough to meet the vital need to increase exports. “Either our standard of living can fall to the level warranted by our Present productivity, or we can raise that productivity by the use of modern techniques to the point where it can support our demands.” it said.