Abstract:
The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) uses an analytical Framework to analyse competitiveness and productivity issues in Ireland. This Bulletin outlines the NCPC's recent decision to review the longstanding pyramidal framework (first adopted over 20 years ago and revised most recently in 2016). Following this review, the NCPC has now decided on a new Framework which centres on the two related concepts of competitiveness and productivity. As concepts, competitiveness and productivity overlap and interlink in a variety of ways, and this revised Framework speaks more effectively to the strong intersection of both. This change was motivated by the increased EU policy focus on both competitiveness and productivity and by the Government's decision in 2019 to expand the remit of the Council to focus on both Competitiveness and Productivity. In seeking to achieve the NCPC's overarching goal - Sustainable Growth and Well-being - the NCPC will utilise this refreshed 'Competitiveness and Productivity Framework' to guide and shape future analyses, and to report on Ireland's performance in relation to both.