SMEs see steep labour productivity decline, new report warns 

Productivity in the construction sector was down 29% since 2019, while the accommodation and food services sector saw a 14% drop, Banking and Payments Federation found

Firms operating in the construction sector as well as the hospitality sector have been hardest hit. 

There has been a noted decline in labour productivity across small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since 2019, with construction and hospitality services the hardest hit, a new report by the Banking and Payments Federation, Ireland (BPFI) has found.

According to the BPFI’s latest SME Monitor, written by its chief economist Ali Uğur, the Government needs to move away from once-off supports which subsidise costs to dealing with more structural issues such as helping address skill mismatches through training and capital investment.