Production and Productivity

What is Production and Productivity?

Within Economics & Civics, which covers money, markets, business, government, law and citizenship: how societies are organised and run, this topic explains Production and Productivity. Economics and civics topics explain how money, markets, laws and government affect people, so each topic here pairs a clear definition with a model.

Check that you can explain Production and Productivity in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.

Understanding Production and Productivity helps you read the news critically and weigh up policies, choices and arguments about society.

Production and Productivity in detail

Production is the process of making goods and providing services using the factors of production. Methods include job production (one-off items, such as a wedding dress), batch production (groups of identical items, such as bread) and flow (mass) production (continuous, such as cars), often with automation.

Productivity measures how efficiently resources are used, such as output per worker per hour. It can be raised by training, better technology, improved organisation and specialisation (division of labour), but over-specialisation can be boring. Higher productivity lowers costs, supports higher wages and improves competitiveness, and is a key driver of economic growth.

How the interactive helps you understand Production and Productivity

Watch the bar chart in the interactive. Use any sliders or buttons it offers to change the values and see how the bar chart responds.

Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Production and Productivity.

Real-life uses and examples

• Relate Production and Productivity to a news story about prices, jobs, elections or government spending.
• Use Production and Productivity to weigh up the pros and costs of a policy or decision.
• Explain Production and Productivity to a classmate using a choice you make yourself, such as spending pocket money.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Giving an opinion without evidence or a clear economic or civic reason.
• Confusing a short-term effect with a long-term one.
• Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.