Article Summary According to the Office for National Statistics in the United

question 118

Multiple Choice

Article Summary
According to the Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom, productivity in the UK in 2012 was well below the average of the G7 countries, only faring better than Japan. The G7 is a group of the seven most industrialized countries, and includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Compared to the G7 average, the UK was 16% less productive per hour worked, and output was 19% worse when measured on a per worker basis. The productivity gap was the largest for the UK since 1994. Worker productivity has increased in all of the G7 nations except for the UK since 2007, where it has fallen by two percentage points. The most productive workers were in the United States, where workers were 29 percentage points more productive per hour worked than in the UK.
Source: "UK workers much less productive than others in the G7," Guardian, September 18, 2013.

-Refer to the Article Summary.Unlike in the UK,labor productivity in the other G7 nations has increased since 2007.An increase in labor productivity

• A)will increase the labor force participation rate.
• B)allows the average consumer to increase consumption.
• C)will create short-run,but not long-run,economic growth.
• D)will increase output and decrease wages in the long run.

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Definitions:

Identical Costs

Refers to costs that are the same across different products, services, or processes.

X-Inefficiency

A situation in which a firm fails to utilize its resources efficiently because of a lack of competitive pressure.

Average Total Costs

The total cost of production divided by the quantity produced, representing the per-unit cost of producing a good or service.

Economies Of Scale

Operational scale increases lead to cost efficiencies for businesses, prominently reflecting in reduced production costs per unit as the amount of output grows.