The Internet can INCREASE productivity

I found this information very interesting. It is a report from the UK about companies whose productivity increased because their employees used computers and the internet. ICT & Productivity ICT use is linked to higher productivity

Labour Productivity: by Employees using ICT in Manufacturing and Services

Investment in computers and software by firms, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and internet use by employees, as well as e-commerce activity, are associated with higher value added per worker.

Hardware and software capital in UK firms increases productivity right across manufacturing and service industries, after taking account of other factors. In addition to the effect of investment, the use of computers, communications and e-commerce also has a positive association with productivity across UK industry.

Manufacturing companies in the UK achieve an extra 2.2 per cent in productivity for each additional 10 per cent of employees using computers. In newer firms, this extra productivity effect rises to 4.4 per cent.

The effect associated with internet use is greater. Manufacturing companies in the UK achieve an extra 2.9 per cent in productivity for each additional 10 per cent of employees using the Internet. Again, for newer firms the effect is larger.

US owned firms in the UK are more successful in exploiting Information Technology (IT) compared to all other firms, and IT accounts for much of their productivity advantage. This is consistent with recent ONS data on international productivity comparisons, which show higher output per worker for the US compared to other G7 economies.



http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1240