In manufacturing, there has been a move away from activities such as textile production, towards computer manufacture and telecommunications. 3.15 The growing importance of knowledge-intensive goods, and services in OECD trade is creating new opportunities for British exporters. In some areas the UK is well placed to grasp these opportunities or even leads the field. For example, we have had strong growth in high-tech exports in recent years and they comprise a relatively large share of our exports. In knowledge-based services we perform well too.
Royalties reflect the export of intellectual property.
Intellectual property earnings from overseas in the form of royalties and licence fees grew about twice as fast as all service exports between 1993 and 1996 in the five largest OECD economies. Computer and information service exports grew about four times as fast as all service exports. For goods and services as a whole, we rank fifth in the world. But despite this, the overall picture shows we have some way to go to reach the living standards of the best. In part, the shortfall in labour productivity reflects the lower level of capital available per worker in the UK compared with our main competitors.