Productivity in the UK is experiencing a 16% deficit on its pre-economic crisis levels, although the Bank of England has admitted that it is at a loss to explain why.

In its latest quarterly bulletin, the bank said that, prior to the recession, productivity levels had been steadily on the rise, but since 2008, levels have been significantly lower although it is unclear why this is.

Solutions offered for the shortfall have included measurement errors, a decline in key sector outputs and slow workers and production lines although even combining the possibilities the paper’s authors say they can only explain approximately 9% of the figure.