CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

Figure 30: Contribution of services to total gross exports, in gross and value-added terms, selected countries, 2015

Source: Cambridge Econometrics calculations based on OECD Trade in Value Added Database.

Figure 31 shows that, as a measure of the share of overall gross exports in 2015, the UK’s gross exports of services represented around 60% of the country’s total exports, while when services value added is measured as a share of total exports, the contribution of services is closer to 70% of the total. Interestingly, the above figure also shows that, among some of the UK’s major competing partners, which forms an important point of reference for this study, the UK also enjoys a much higher contribution of both its gross services exports and its value-added services exports in its overall gross exports of goods and services, establishing the greater relative importance of services to the UK economy than key EU and other major partners. The importance of value addition within the services sectors, relative to the manufacturing and other productive sectors, is also confirmed graphically in Figure 32 below. The relevant data shows that, while the share of services was 68.5% of gross exports across the UK economy, with respect to the services sectors, with few exceptions 56 , the domestic value added contribution was well in excess of 80%, but was generally greater than 90% for the less industry-dependent services activities. These value added contributions were highest for the Real Estate, Education, IT and

56 This is with the exception of repair and installation of machinery and equipment, services related to electricity, gas, water supply, sewage, waste and remediation, as well as mining support service activities.

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