--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/are-uk-regional-productivity-disparities-really-narrowing-an-investigation-into-recent-productivity-data-revisions/" title: "Are UK Regional Productivity Disparities Really Narrowing? An Investigation into Recent Productivity Data Revisions" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T08:15:28+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-17T10:06:23+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2025" ipm_keyword: - "2019-2022" - "convergence" - "disparities" - "divergence" - "levelling up" - "London" - "McCann" - "ONS data" - "Ortega-Argilés" - "regional productivity" - "UK" ipm_research_theme: - "Productivity trends and comparisons" ipm_country_focus: - "United Kingdom" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Are UK Regional Productivity Disparities Really Narrowing? An Investigation into Recent Productivity Data Revisions Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/are-uk-regional-productivity-disparities-really-narrowing-an-investigation-into-recent-productivity-data-revisions/ # Are UK Regional Productivity Disparities Really Narrowing? An Investigation into Recent Productivity Data Revisions [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-48-3-Gouma-McCann-Ortega-Argiles.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Gouma, Fokke Reitze, Philip McCann, and Raquel Ortega-Argilés. 2025. “Are UK Regional Productivity Disparities Really Narrowing? An Investigation into Recent Productivity Data Revisions.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 48 (Spring 2025): 63–84. https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/are-uk-regional-productivity-disparities-really-narrowing-an-investigation-into-recent-productivity-data-revisions/ ## Authors: - Fokke Reitze Gouma University of Groningen; University of Manchester / The Productivity Institute - Philip McCann University of Groningen; University of Manchester / The Productivity Institute - Raquel Ortega-Argilés University of Groningen; University of Manchester / The Productivity Institute ## IPM Issue 48 Spring 2025 pp. 63–84 ## Related IPM articles [ONS Response to ‘Are UK Regional Productivity Disparities Really Narrowing?’ Richard Prothero Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 85–89](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/ons-response-to-are-uk-regional-productivity-disparities-really-narrowing/) [New Measures of Public Service Productivity: Lessons and Results from the United Kingdom Richard Heys Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 90–114](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/new-measures-of-public-service-productivity-lessons-and-results-from-the-united-kingdom/) [De-industrialization and the Great Productivity Slowdown: What Comes Next? Paul Fisher Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 115–138](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/de-industrialization-and-the-great-productivity-slowdown-what-comes-next/) [Online Supplementary Material: UK Regional Productivity Data Fokke Reitze Gouma, Philip McCann, Raquel Ortega-Argilés Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 15–19](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/online-supplementary-material-uk-regional-productivity-data/) [The UK Productivity Slowdown: A Review of Timing, Magnitude, and Drivers Josh Martin Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 1–34](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/the-uk-productivity-slowdown-a-review-of-timing-magnitude-and-drivers/) [Appendix: UK Productivity Growth Rates Across Data Vintages and Studies Josh Martin Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 65–73](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/appendix-uk-productivity-growth-rates-across-data-vintages-and-studies/) [Could Domestic Industrial Policies, Even With Global Fragmentation, Revive Productivity? Catherine Mann Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 3–19](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/could-domestic-industrial-policies-even-with-global-fragmentation-revive-productivity/) [Productivity and Industrial Policy by Design: The UK Experience Diane Coyle, Ayantola Alayande Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 20–38](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/productivity-and-industrial-policy-by-design-the-uk-experience/) [IPM Issue 47 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/) [Are Intangibles Running out of Steam? Bart van Ark, Klaas de Vries, Abdul Erumban Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 38–59](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/are-intangibles-running-out-of-steam/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn Recent UK data revaluations by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) on regional productivity data suggest that, after decades of interregional productivity divergence, the UK may finally once again be returning to something of an interregional productivity convergence framework. The aim of this article is to examine these data carefully, and to identify precisely what the recent ONS data really do tell us about UK regional productivity growth. We argue that the published data produce results from which it is difficult to infer anything about regional productivity convergence or divergence. De récentes réévaluations des données du Bureau britannique des statistiques nationales (ONS) sur les données de productivité régionale suggèrent qu’après des décennies de divergence de productivité interrégionale, le Royaume-Uni pourrait finalement revenir à un cadre de convergence de la productivité interrégionale. L’objectif de cet article est d’examiner ces données attentivement et d’identifier précisément ce que les données récentes de l’ONS nous apprennent réellement sur la croissance de la productivité régionale au Royaume-Uni. Nous soutenons que les données publiées produisent des résultats à partir desquels il est difficile de tirer des conclusions sur la convergence ou la divergence de la productivité régionale. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-48-3-Gouma-McCann-Ortega-Argiles.pdf)