Britain’s workers are at last producing more in each hour of work than they were at the end of 2007, after almost 10 years of poor productivity.

A spurt in productivity growth in the final quarter of 2016 came as the economy accelerated, finally surpassing the hourly output levels seen before the financial crisis.

Productivity is the key to rising pay and living standards, as workers can earn sustainably higher wages if they produce more output.

But productivity has stagnated since the financial crisis.