--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-10/are-productivity-levels-higher-in-some-european-countries-than-in-the-united-states/" title: "Are Productivity Levels Higher in Some European Countries than in the United States?" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T06:53:24+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:53:24+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2005" ipm_keyword: - "Banque de France" - "employment rate" - "Europe" - "hours worked" - "labour productivity levels" - "purchasing power parity" - "structural productivity" - "technical efficiency frontier" - "United States" ipm_research_theme: - "Measurement and methodology" ipm_country_focus: - "Belgium" - "Europe" - "France" - "Netherlands" - "OECD" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Are Productivity Levels Higher in Some European Countries than in the United States? Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-10/are-productivity-levels-higher-in-some-european-countries-than-in-the-united-states/ # Are Productivity Levels Higher in Some European Countries than in the United States? [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-10-4-Cette.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Cette, Gilbert. 2005. “Are Productivity Levels Higher in Some European Countries than in the United States?” International Productivity Monitor, No. 10 (Spring 2005): 59–68. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-10/are-productivity-levels-higher-in-some-european-countries-than-in-the-united-states/ ## Author: - Gilbert Cette Banque de France; University of Aix-Marseille II (CEDERS); INSEE-CREST; University of Aix-Marseille II (CEDERS) ## IPM Issue 10 Spring 2005 pp. 59–68 ## Related IPM articles [Efficiency Adjustment of Hours Worked: Two Possible Modifications of a Jorgensen Production Model Barbara Fraumeni Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 103–115](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/efficiency-adjustment-of-hours-worked-two-possible-modifications-of-a-jorgensen-production-model/) [IPM Issue 49 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark, Paul Schreyer Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/) [De-industrialization and the Great Productivity Slowdown: What Comes Next? Paul Fisher Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 115–138](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/de-industrialization-and-the-great-productivity-slowdown-what-comes-next/) [Online Supplementary Material: UK Regional Productivity Data Fokke Reitze Gouma, Philip McCann, Raquel Ortega-Argilés Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 15–19](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/online-supplementary-material-uk-regional-productivity-data/) [Data Appendix: International Comparison of UK Productivity John Van Reenen, Xuyi Yang Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 38–82](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/data-appendix-international-comparison-of-uk-productivity/) [Are Intangibles Running out of Steam? Bart van Ark, Klaas de Vries, Abdul Erumban Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 38–59](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/are-intangibles-running-out-of-steam/) [Cracking the Productivity Code: An International Comparison of UK Productivity John Van Reenen, Xuyi Yang Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 60–82](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/cracking-the-productivity-code-an-international-comparison-of-uk-productivity/) [Intangible Capital, TFP Growth and Green Shoots in New Productivity Data Filippo Bontadini, Carol Corrado, Jonathan Haskel, Massimiliano Iommi, Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, Tsutomu Miyagawa Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 3–37](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/intangible-capital-tfp-growth-and-green-shoots-in-new-productivity-data/) [The Post-2001 Productivity Growth Divergence between Canada and the United States Wulong Gu, Michael Willox Fall 2023 | IPM Issue 45 | pp. 28–60](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-45/the-post-2001-productivity-growth-divergence-between-canada-and-the-united-states/) [Lessons from a Career in Productivity Research: Some Answers, A Glimpse of the Future, and Much Left to Learn Martin Baily Spring 2023 | IPM Issue 44 | pp. 120–149](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-44/lessons-from-a-career-in-productivity-research-some-answers-a-glimpse-of-the-future-and-much-left-to-learn/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn This article examines whether measured hourly labour productivity levels in several European countries genuinely exceed U.S. levels, or whether this reflects a statistical artefact. The author argues that OECD data showing France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway ahead of the United States on output per hour is misleading because low employment rates and shorter working hours in Europe reflect the exclusion of low-productivity workers and groups from the labour force. When a ‘structural’ measure of labour productivity is constructed that adjusts for these compositional effects, European productivity levels fall below U.S. levels, suggesting the United States remains the technical efficiency frontier. Cet article examine si les niveaux de productivité horaire du travail mesurés dans plusieurs pays européens dépassent réellement les niveaux américains, ou si cela reflète un artefact statistique. L’auteur soutient que les données de l’OCDE montrant que la France, la Belgique, les Pays-Bas et la Norvège devancent les États-Unis en matière de production par heure sont trompeuses, car les faibles taux d’emploi et les heures de travail plus courtes en Europe reflètent l’exclusion des travailleurs et groupes à faible productivité du marché du travail. Lorsqu’une mesure « structurelle » de la productivité du travail est construite pour tenir compte de ces effets de composition, les niveaux de productivité européens deviennent inférieurs aux niveaux américains, ce qui suggère que les États-Unis restent la frontière d’efficience technique. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-10-4-Cette.pdf)