Tom Wickersham
twickersham.bsky.social
Tom Wickersham
@twickersham.bsky.social
Personal account. Economist at the Office for National Statistics. Firm-level data, productivity, business dynamism, management practices etc. All views my own, reposts not endorsements.
Pinned
On 22 April we published new analysis comparing management practices in the public and private sectors. Previous research shows that good management practices are linked to higher productivity and other positive outcomes for organisations. www.ons.gov.uk/economy/econ...
Public and private sectors in the UK, comparisons of management practices - Office for National Statistics
An analysis of structured management practices and organisational characteristics, as reported in 2023 across the public and private sectors in the UK.
www.ons.gov.uk
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
It's well-established that UK firms engaged in international trade are more productive, but why?

New analysis from @christinavpalmou.bsky.social and Kyle Jones (ONS) offers new evidence: tinyurl.com/5c9mazpa
August 14, 2025 at 8:31 AM
On 22 April we published new analysis comparing management practices in the public and private sectors. Previous research shows that good management practices are linked to higher productivity and other positive outcomes for organisations. www.ons.gov.uk/economy/econ...
Public and private sectors in the UK, comparisons of management practices - Office for National Statistics
An analysis of structured management practices and organisational characteristics, as reported in 2023 across the public and private sectors in the UK.
www.ons.gov.uk
May 27, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Another busy room for this panel on trade and productivity in British firms with @grantfitzner.bsky.social, @christinavpalmou.bsky.social, Swati Dhingra, Gregory Thwaites, Mairi Spowage and @sophie-piton.bsky.social. #EconStats2025
May 22, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
The UK will soon have a new industrial strategy. What can we learn from past policies, and from examining the sectors in the government's recent green paper?

Our new CMA report looks at the data.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-policies-new-evidence-for-the-uk

1/
April 9, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Today we published further analysis of the Management and Expectations Survey 2023, focusing on the relationship between management practices and the adoption of technology and artificial intelligence: www.ons.gov.uk/economy/econ...
#econsky
Management practices and the adoption of technology and artificial intelligence in UK firms - Office for National Statistics
Investigating how technology adoption and use of artificial intelligence by businesses vary with management practices.
www.ons.gov.uk
March 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
At tonight’s #NationalProductivityWeek event with @productivity.bsky.social and @resmedia.bsky.social we’ve have presentations from ONS, TPI, Scaleup Institute and CBI.
January 27, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
My first big blog of the BlueSky era! Examining the multiple claims (found in @financialtimes.com and elsewhere) that Tech sector success is the main factor in US outperformance ... The answer is: it's not that simple freethinkecon.wordpress.com/2024/12/11/u...

Thread later, maybe tomorrow
US outperformance isn’t *all* about Tech
Failure brings some benefits. UK growth and productivity performance over the past 15 years has been *so* dire that an economy, formerly facing the challenges of being at the Frontier, is instead i…
freethinkecon.wordpress.com
December 11, 2024 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
The UK Longitudinal Business Database allows any accredited researcher in the ONS Secure Research Service to track the near-universe of UK firms at quarterly frequency and to link them to other administrative and survey data sources.

I have written about it here.

#EconSky
December 9, 2024 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
ONS has also just published a new report on business dynamism. tinyurl.com/4w5ku5xk

Great to see an ESCoE technical report on the UK Longitudinal Business Database referenced in this ➡️ tinyurl.com/mwr79n3p
Great to see ESCoE work referenced at an ONS and
Department for Business and Trade event on business dynamism today.
December 9, 2024 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Enjoyed being on the panel on the ONS's analysis of #business #dynamism (https://bit.ly/41mctVf ). Needs attention if we want #productivity #growth. One example: the 50% of firms in the bottom half of productivity distribution contributed almost nothing to productivity growth in the last 20+ years.
December 5, 2024 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Great to see ESCoE work referenced at an ONS and
Department for Business and Trade event on business dynamism today.
December 5, 2024 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Really good ONS / DBT event today on business dynamism - how the UK is doing (not great) and what can we do about it.
December 5, 2024 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
I'm at ONS & Department for Business and Trade event this morning in business dynamism, #productivity and growth.

First, @twickersham.bsky.social describes new ONS work on dynamism and firm-level productivity. Most of the productivity slowdown post-GFC due to the middle of the firm distribution.
December 5, 2024 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
@twickersham.bsky.social gave an amazing presentation this morning at the 'Stimulating UK economic growth through dynamism' featuring our dashboard data
December 5, 2024 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
The ONS today published its latest productivity and business dynamism bulletin. Headline figures: no change year-on-year to average markups, job reallocation or the overall labour productivity distribution.

www.ons.gov.uk/economy/econ...

1/
December 3, 2024 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Fascinating ONS analysis on business dynamism and productivity (https://bit.ly/41mctVf ). The UK suffers from a 'big bulge' of below-average firms: >70% of employees work in firms with productivity below the mean. Also, older, large firms and micro, new firms key to job creation. #dataisbeautiful
December 3, 2024 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Anthony Savagar and I are working on a *real-time* #BusinessDynamism project

In our dashboard we visualise the entry and exit of UK-registered companies: asavagar.shinyapps.io/BusinessDyna...

Soon a working paper is coming
December 3, 2024 at 10:44 AM
New analysis from our team today: the 2024 edition of our annual 'Trends in UK business dynamism and productivity' statistical bulletin: www.ons.gov.uk/releases/tre... Essential reading for understanding how firm-level trends influence overall UK economic growth. A few highlights follow. #econsky
Trends in UK business dynamism and productivity: 2024 - Office for National Statistics
www.ons.gov.uk
December 3, 2024 at 10:10 AM
We have organised a joint ONS and DBT event in London on Thursday, December 5 to discuss how to measure and improve business dynamism as the government develops plans for its economic growth mission. You can sign up to attend here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stimulatin...
Stimulating UK economic growth through dynamism: New data and policy ideas
To discuss how to measure and increase economic dynamism as the government develops plans for its economic growth mission.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 25, 2024 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Yesterday saw the conclusion of our third annual CMA-Durham workshop on market power.

The programme and atmosphere were excellent, and I was particularly happy that we managed to yet again bridge the academia-government divide.

Let me flag a few papers I particularly enjoyed.

1/
November 16, 2024 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
We are grateful to the ONS and CompNet for creating and making accessible crucial microdata resources. Data creation is a public good, and as researchers we are indebted to those who provide it.

27/
October 24, 2024 at 6:09 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
How has competition changed across the UK economy over the past two decades?

The CMA has just released our report on the state of UK competition. Let me pick out a few key narratives. #EconSky

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-state-of-uk-competition-report-2024

1/
October 24, 2024 at 6:08 AM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
The ONS has today released results from two new data collection efforts on public-sector productivity: a public-sector version of the existing Management and Expectations Survey and a public-sector time use survey.

Overall, management practices look similar in the public and private sectors.

1/
October 21, 2024 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Tom Wickersham
Policymakers often need to design policies quickly in the face of crises, but analysis required for evidence-based policymaking is published with a significant lag.

So what can researchers do help?

A thread on a new paper with my wonderful coauthors @trfetzer.com and Christina Palmou. 📈📉 (1/28)
September 18, 2024 at 9:18 AM