'Tunnel vision' approach to growth threatens return to work plans

The Social Productivity Index, compiled by UKHospitality (UKH) using ONS data, shows that the most economically productive sectors deliver the least social value.

It shows that foundational sectors, like hospitality, are the most effective at delivering growth, creating positive social impact, and ensuring social and geographic accessibility. These qualities are essential to achieving the government’s ambitions of getting more people back into work and creating a fairer economy and society.

The Index is a new way to measure growth, challenging the conventional method of defining economic success by solely focusing on GDP and financial productivity.

Many high-economic-productivity sectors, like those prioritised in the government’s Industrial Strategy, often perform the worst. While those sectors deliver for specific areas, towns, or cities, they fail to reach widely populated communities or provide accessible opportunities.

Foundational sectors perform most strongly using these metrics. Hospitality ranks first in employing part-time workers, under-25s and access for non-graduates. It is also in the top five for geographic spread, gender balance, employment of non-White British team members and the proportion of people in managerial roles without a degree.

“There is so much more to growth than just raw economics, as our new Social Productivity Index reveals," says UKH CEO Kate Nicholls. 

“A tunnel vision approach to growth, which relentlessly pursues a narrow definition of economic growth alone, would risk creating a prosperity postcode lottery.

“It will only benefit small clusters around the country, mainly in the South East, and sectors that deliver real change felt by real people would be overlooked.

“It would leave swathes of the North and the Midlands behind, and fail to deliver on the government’s ambition to help more people back into work.

“Hospitality’s ability to support jobs and communities in every part of the country, offering career opportunities for all and driving social mobility are the qualities the government needs to get more people back into work.

“Government policy, particularly the Industrial Strategy, needs to recognise sectors that deliver this social value to ensure national renewal can truly be delivered. The index lays bare that high economic productivity sectors are simply not able to perform this role and will not help people back into jobs.

“Government policy, particularly the Industrial Strategy, needs to recognise sectors that deliver this social value to ensure national renewal can truly be delivered. The index lays bare that high economic productivity sectors are simply not able to perform this role and will not help people back into jobs."

UKH's recommendations for the government:

• Include social productivity and geographic distribution of growth alongside economic productivity when making impact assessments and developing public policy.
• Establish location-based strategies for areas and sectors that have been excluded from highly concentrated high-economic productivity sectors, helping to reduce regional inequality and provide equitable economic opportunities across the UK.
• Carry out analysis to reveal hot high social productivity sectors, like hospitality, contribute to the success of high-economic productivity sectors. 

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