RESEARCH NOTE COMPARATIVE PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS—STUDY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WEST MIDLANDS ENGINEERING AND METALWORKING INDUSTRIES

SUMMARY A comparative study of machine and labour utilisation, undertaken in West Midlands engineering and rnetalworking industries, was initiated because United Kingdom Census of Production statistics indicate that labour productivity in that region was lower than the national average. This study, involving 273,000 snap readings, revealed that productivity could be increased by as much as 100 per cent, but led to an examination of productivity measures which showed that there was no real evidence that productivity in the region was lower than that of other regions.