Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, has welcomed news that productivity in Scotland outperformed the UK in 2014 and across the period of recession and recovery.

Official statistics show that output per hour worked in Scotland – a measure of how much output the economy produces in each working hour – has grown 4.4 per cent since 2007. This compares to UK growth of 0.2 per cent on its 2007 level.

In 2014, output per hour worked in Scotland increased by 1.3 per cent in real terms, compared to 0.4 per cent for the UK.

Scottish productivity is now catching up significantly with UK levels, increasing from 92.2 per cent of the UK average output per hour in 2007, to 97.6 per cent of the UK average in 2014

Mr Swinney said:

“These welcome figures show that Scotland’s productivity performance is improving and catching up with UK levels. Output per hour worked grew by 1.3 per cent in real terms during 2014, and Scotland is the only nation or region of the UK to improve its productivity performance relative to the UK average in recent years.

“This follows further evidence of Scotland’s growing economic strength, with Scottish employment at record levels, the highest of the four UK nations, and that we are outperforming the UK as a whole. This is supported by welcome and continued falls in unemployment and economic inactivity rates.

“These figures therefore show that we are making real progress towards making Scotland a more productive and competitive country. However, we know more needs to be done as we recognise that a number of challenges remain.

“We remain focused on continuing to improve Scotland’s performance in the priority areas of Investment, Innovation, Inclusive Growth and Internationalisation set out in Scotland’s Economic Strategy, and we will continue to use every power at our disposal to build on this growth and realise the full productive potential of Scotland.”