UK productivity growth slowed in the first quarter, ONS data shows

LONDON (Reuters) -Productivity growth in Britain's economy weakened in the first quarter of this year compared to the final three months of 2024 and was down compared with a year previously, official data showed on Thursday.

The Office for National Statistics said output per hour worked increased by 0.2% in the January-to-March period, weaker than the 0.7% growth in the fourth quarter of last year.

Compared with a year earlier, output per hour was down 0.2%.

However, the ONS said that less weight should be placed on the latest annual change in the productivity figures due to low response rates in the first quarter of 2024 to the Labour Force Survey, which is subject to sample size problems that have decreased the reliability of labour market data.

(Reporting by Suban Abdulla; editing by David Milliken)