Doubling of productivity growth in decade pushes world economy into higher gear
The world economy has moved into a higher gear over the past decade with productivity growth almost doubling compared with the previous five years.
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Rapid growth of output per employee in China and India, combined with improved productivity growth in north America, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa drove the world economy forward, according to a report published today by the Conference Board, a global business organisation. Only in Europe and Latin America has productivity growth slowed. World living standards were pushed higher by annual productivity growth of 2 per cent between 1995 and 2003, a rise from a growth rate of 1.1 per cent between 1990 and 1995.
“An intensification of the competitive process is doing good to most regions of the world,” said Bart van Ark, a professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and one of the authors of the report.
“The number of countries that participate in the world economy is now higher than it has ever been and some of the lower income regions can now exploit their comparative advantages in world markets.”
Even though employees in many European countries produced more in an hour than those in the US, Europe's relative productivity performance has de-clined since 1995. The report said this was a sign Europe needed to develop a new business model, particularly in the service sector.
It also dismissed from members of the European parliament that longer hours could tire workers and make them less efficient. The report argued that the European working week was short compared to some other regions. In Europe productivity was not the main driver of living standards. Income per head was 30 per cent lower than in the US because fewer people were in work and employees worked fewer hours.
One of the main hopes was that eastern Europe could invigorate the rest of the European market by spurring it to become more competitive, Mr van Ark said.
In other regions, low productivity explained the gap between their living standards and those in the US. China and India had a huge potential to maintain high productivity growth, but since their levels lagged over 85 per cent below the US, “the idea that China will be able to overtake US or Europe any time soon is far fetched”, Mr van Ark said.
“全球经济发展速度加快”
全球经济在过去10年已进入更快速的增长轨道，与之前的5年相比，过去这10年的生产力增长几乎翻了一倍。
全球商业机构大企业联合会(Conference Board)今天发表的一份报告指出，中国和印度平均每位员工的产出有快速增长，加上北美、东欧、中东和非洲地区生产力增长提高，推动了全球经济向前发展。只有欧洲和拉美的生产力增长步伐有所放缓。在1995年至2003年间，每年2%的生产力增长推动了全球生活水平的提高。这一增长水平高于1990至1995年间每年1.1%的升幅。
“竞争过程的加强有益于全球大部分地区，”该报告作者之一、荷兰格罗宁根大学教授巴特?凡?阿克(Bart van Ark)说。
“目前，参与全球经济的国家数量比以往任何时期都多，一些收入较低的地区现在能在全球市场上利用它们的相对优势了。”
尽管很多欧洲国家的员工每小时产出要比美国的数字高，但欧洲的相对生产力表现自1995年以来已经下滑。报告表示，这一迹象表明，欧洲需要开发一种新的商业模式，服务业尤其如此。
凡?阿克先生说，一个主要的希望在于，东欧可能会促进欧洲其它市场的发展，促使其变得更具竞争力，从而激发其活力。
在全球其它地区，低生产力水平为它们的生活水平和美国之间存在差距提供了解释。中国和印度在维持高生产力增长方面有着巨大的潜力，但由于它们的水平落后美国达85%，因此“中国将很快赶上美国或欧洲的说法便十分牵强”，凡?阿克先生说。
