Market services: Productivity benchmarks for the UK

This paper presents comparisons of labour productivity (value added per hou r worked) in market services for the UK, the US, France and Germany in 1993 . Market services, defined as (1) Distribution, Hotels and Catering, (2) Tr ansport and Communications and (3) Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, make up 34-43 percent of total employment in the four countries. For productivi ty in market services overall, the US led the UK by 35 percent in 1993, Ger many led the UK by 34 percent and France led the UK by 36 percent. The UK p roductivity shortfall vis-h-vis Germany and France was wider in market serv ices than in manufacturing.