Labour productivity in UK manufacturing in the 1970s and in the 1980s

What accounts for the productivity improvement experienced in manufacturing since 1979? Answers to this question are sought from a regression analysis of 93 manufacturing industries over the period 1971-86. The main findings are that when other influences, such as raw material prices and the shock of the 1980-1 recession, are eliminated, there has been an improvement in the 1980s in the growth rate of productivity whose impact effect averaged 4 per cent per annum. Between a quarter and a half of this is attributable to a decline in the disadvantages of unionisation.