Sub-regional productivity: 2002 to 2022

Estimates for labour productivity ^{[footnote 1]} are calculated by dividing output (gross value added, GVA) by a measure of labour input (total hours worked or jobs).

Estimates for Wales ^{[footnote 2]}

• GVA per hour worked (relative to the UK) was 82.7% in 2022, an increase of 0.8 percentage points over the previous year.
• This figure was the lowest of the twelve UK countries and English regions.
• Wales showed a cumulative average annual growth rate per hour worked of -0.4% from 2019 to 2022
• In 2022, GVA per job filled was 81.1% of the UK figure, an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the previous year.
• This figure was the lowest of the 12 UK countries and English regions. 
• Estimates published in May 2024 show that GVA per head (relative to the UK) was 72.1%. This was the second lowest GVA per head of the twelve UK countries and English regions.

Sub – Wales estimates ^{[footnote 3] [footnote 4]}

• Powys had the lowest GVA per hour worked of all the areas in the UK in 2022 (63.1% of the UK figure) and Gwynedd and Conwy and Denbighshire had the third and fourth lowest GVA per hour worked (69.3% and 71.1% of the UK figure respectively).
• Powys had the lowest GVA per job in the UK in 2022 (at 61.1% of the UK figure).
• Flintshire and Wrexham was the highest ranked Welsh area for both GVA per hour and GVA per job (at 95.1% and 93.6% of the UK figure respectively).

[1] GVA per hour worked is considered a more comprehensive indicator of labour productivity than GVA per job filled, as it accounts for different working hours and how those differ across regions. Note that both measures are better to assess productivity than GVA per head, which includes people not in the workforce and can also be heavily biased by commuting flows.

[2] The Wales figures used in this headline are from the regional productivity data tables published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

[3] The sub-Wales estimates used in this headline are from the sub-regional productivity data tables published by ONS and are not directly comparable with the Wales level data from the regional productivity tables. 

[4] International Territorial Levels (ITL) is the new UK geographies classification system. This has superseded the Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS) classification system. ITL is a geographical classification that divides the UK into regions at three different levels (ITL 1, 2 and 3, respectively, moving from larger to smaller units). The Sub-Wales estimates above refer to ITL3.

Statistician: Emma Horncastle
Email: economic.stats@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099