Don't take the credit - there is no glory.

The US has created lots of jobs since President Tump was elected.  I am sure he will take the credit - and bask in the reflected glory.

President Trump should be careful, though.  America's productivity is not rising.  Any wage rises will be at the expense of inflation.  In a year's time, we may have a better guide to the success of his policies - for now, those in work will be pleased... but may find their wage being eroded.

Short-term gains are often illusory.

Csan we believe the figures?

France takes the summer off.  Many factories close down for a month while workers holiday en masse.

Other European countries also take longer holidays than the UK.

Yet the productivity of these countries is higher.

Can anyone explain this - it is counter-intuitive.

I have voiced my doubts about the way we measure national productivity before.

Each time I note something like this, I become more convinced that we need to take a fresh look at what we measure and compare.

Technology is of little help

Over the last 50 years, there is no doubt that technology has made significant contributions to GDP and thus to national productivity. However most technology soon reduces in price and thus any contribution is soon lessened. Worse, we appear to be in a relative technology slump - there has been little true innovation in the last few years.

So, technology is not going to come to our rescue. We have to take the 'low road' and pick up all the small productivity gains we can. We need a systematic, national productivity drive with government addressing policy and infrastructure and companies addessing skills and culture. We can create impact but it's not going to be easy.

Too UK - centric?

A few of my recent posts have related to U K productivity and challenges.  This is not because the UK faces more challenges than anyone else (though Brexit is  causing some fears).

The UK is going through a 'bad patch' but is at least trying to do something about it with new committees and task forces being established.

Will they work?

I doubt it - but they might at least spark a discussion and debate which might release some fresh thinking.

So I am relatively optimistic.  I hope you are too  - for your country.

Help generate discussion - that generates ideas.  We need ideas - lots of them. And we need to share them.

And whether they relate to the UK - or somewhere else is irrelevant.  good ideas are good ideas wherever they originate.