Derry economically worst performing area of worst performing UK region but Belfast is close to British output levels

Derry is the worst performing area of the worst performing region of the United Kingdom when it comes to economic productivity, a new report has highlighted.
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Researchers from Queen’s University have found that the north is the poorest performing UK region for productivity, with a productivity gap of 17 per cent to the UK level.

But in Derry the gap is even worse at 23 per cent.

The new report – ‘NI’s Productivity Challenge: Exploring the issues’ – authored by Dr. David Jordan and Professor John Turner, on behalf of the NI Productivity Forum, which is based at Queen’s, highlights how the level of gross value added (GVA) per hour worked in Derry lags way behind Britain and even Belfast.

A chart showing how far Derry's productivity level is lagging behind Belfast and the UK norm.A chart showing how far Derry's productivity level is lagging behind Belfast and the UK norm.
A chart showing how far Derry's productivity level is lagging behind Belfast and the UK norm.
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"Belfast has the smallest productivity gap, only six per cent below the UK level (when measured as output per filled job), while Derry City and Strabane has the largest gap, at 23 per cent below the UK level,” the authors state.

The analysis highlights a continuing east-west divided in the north.

“While NI’s productivity performance has been far from impressive...the productivity gap is not evenly distributed across NI’s local authorities.

"Belfast and Mid Ulster both performed relatively well in 2019, being the only two local authorities to exceed the overall NI level of 85.7 per cent, albeit still with a significant gap to the UK level.

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"In contrast, there are several areas which are over 20 per cent below the UK level, with Derry City and Strabane performing particularly poorly, at around 23 per cent below,” write Dr. Jordan and Prof. Turner.

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Responding to the figures Foyle MLA Sinéad McLaughlin, who is the SDLP’s economic spokesperson, said: “Low productivity may sound like economic jargon to many people, but it translates into the wages that people in Derry and across the North are able to take home at the end of the month, the living standards that we all experience and the money we are able to spend on public services like our health service.

“The impact of low productivity in our economy has been a persistent problem across decades in NI, thanks to policy failures at the heart of the Executive.

"This report points clearly to the consequences of those failures, including the low level of skills in the North and the lack of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

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"Cities like Derry have been particularly hard-hit by the inability of our government to get to grips with these challenges and it’s long past time that this was addressed.

“The SDLP has been clear that we need to invest properly in further and higher education and fund a proper Skills Strategy. We also need to leverage the dual market access offered to us by the Protocol to attract further FDI, especially in our growth sectors.”

Ms. McLaughlin said more investment in further and higher education is one part of the solution and a properly funded Skills Strategy is another.

"We also need to leverage the dual market access offered to us by the Protocol to attract further FDI, especially in our growth sectors,” she said.