In the second half of the 1990's, Europe's average annual growth rate of productivity amounted to 0.7%, while the US hummed along at 1.4%. However, if we distinguish between the industries that produce information and communications technologies (ICT) and those that are simply users of such technologies, we can see that the productivity growth gap stems almost entirely from the weakness of Europe's ICT producing sector. Annual productivity growth in sectors that are users of ICT technologies averaged 0.63% in the US between 1995 and 2000, and a very similar 0.41% in Europe.
In the second half of the 1990's, Europe's average annual growth rate of productivity amounted to 0.7%, while the US hummed along at 1.4%. However, if we distinguish between the industries that produce information and communications technologies (ICT) and those that are simply users of such technologies, we can see that the productivity growth gap stems almost entirely from the weakness of Europe's ICT producing sector. Annual productivity growth in sectors that are users of ICT technologies averaged 0.63% in the US between 1995 and 2000, and a very similar 0.41% in Europe.