West Yorkshire city region is among the least productive in the UK

West Yorkshire has been ranked among the least productive parts of the UK, alongside the Sheffield City region.
West Yorkshire's productivity is 13.2 percent less than the UK average, according to data from the Office of National Statistics.West Yorkshire's productivity is 13.2 percent less than the UK average, according to data from the Office of National Statistics.
West Yorkshire's productivity is 13.2 percent less than the UK average, according to data from the Office of National Statistics.

New experimental figures from the Office for National Statistics figures show that West Yorkshire is 13.2 percent less productive than the UK average and Sheffield is 19.2 percent less productive.

Calculated by measuring Gross Value Added per hour worked, London is the most productive part of the UK, while the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Liverpool, the Tees Valley, Greater Manchester and the North East all score higher than the two Yorkshire regions.

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The findings have been presented by business-led group, Be the Businesses, which aims to close the UK’s productivity gap and Tony Danker, the group’s CEO, said: “While West Yorkshire and Sheffield have many highly productive businesses, we know there more opportunities across the country for businesses of all sizes to make significant gains.”

The figures come despite the successes of HSBC, First Direct and Addleshaw Goddard in Leeds and Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, said Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which represents businesses and civic leaders in the North.

Mr Murison said that both Leeds and Sheffield share skills gaps that hold them back and that together with Transport for the North’s plans, a “step change” in education and skills by settling the region’s devolution question is essential.

Mr Murison added: “If the promise of the Northern Powerhouse is delivered, higher productivity in Yorkshire will close the over £7,000 a year gap in what northerners are paid and benefit the whole country’s economy.”