Figure 8.8 shows the trend in productivity for the whole economy and the manufacturing
sector over a 24-year period. There was a fairly sharp increase in productivity
levels in the manufacturing sector in the UK over the 1980s. Productivity growth in the
UK compared favourably with that of other countries in the 1980s and 1990s, but
research by the Department of Trade and Industry in 1998 found that much of this
improvement was due to longer working hours rather than increased efficiency of
labour. In 2003, British workers worked 16 per cent more hours than German workers
and 11 per cent more than French workers.