The US has widened its productivity lead over Europe, sparking fears in the EU that it faces a “competitiveness crisis” as policymakers call for greater public and private investment.
New data released on Friday showed eurozone productivity fell 1.2 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, while in the US it rose 2.6 per cent in the same period, separate data showed. Labour productivity growth in the US has been more than double that of the eurozone and UK in the past two decades.
“In the long term, productivity growth in the US is projected to be higher than in Europe,” said Bart van Ark, managing director at the UK-based Productivity Institute. “Europe is not showing the same dynamism. That is widening the growth gap between the US and the EU.”