Is productivity the Achilles’ heel of economic recovery in Europe?

Amid recession threats in Europe and slowing output growth in many other parts of the world, labor productivity growth around the globe weakened substantially in 2011, and shows no signs of significant recovery in 2012. According to the latest annual estimates by The Conference Board, to be released on January 17th, productivity growth in most advanced economies fell by more than half compared to 2010. While productivity growth rates in emerging economies remains much higher it has also leveled off. Within Europe, slow productivity growth is the Achilles’ heel of even the best performing economies in case recession takes hold in 2012. Some of the weaker economies may actually see some cyclical productivity gains as less productive businesses close down. In the longer term, structural reforms and innovation are needed to bring productivity back to a more sustainable growth path.

Speakers

• Speaker - Bart Van Ark, Chief Economist of the Conference Board
• Discussant - Werner Röger, Head of Unit, European Commission, DG ECFIN
• Chair - Reinhilde Veugelers, Senior Fellow, Bruegel

Event materials

• Bart van Ark, Productivity Projections for 2012 from The Conference Board Total Economy Database here
• Werner Röger, Discussion of Conference Board Productivity Projectionshere
• The Conference Board Total Economy Database™, Summary Statistics 1996 - 2012 here
• The Conference Board 2012 Productivity Brief—Key Findings here