EU ‘at level of US in 1970s'
The European Union's economy today is where the US economy was in the late 1970s, according to a provocative study. It shows that the employment rate of just over 64 per cent attained by the EU in 2003, the latest year for which comparable data are available, was achieved in the US in 1978. Research and development spending in the EU matches the US level in 1979.
Europe's performance is slightly better in terms of gross domestic product per head, where the 2003 figure of $25,336 (�18,881, ￡13,176) corresponds to US data for 1985.
Europe's 2003 GDP per worker, meanwhile, was achieved in the US in 1989.
The study, to be presented today by Eurochambres, the pan-European business organisation, underlines the challenge for European Union policymakers as they struggle to improve the competitiveness of the European economy.
EU heads of government will decide this month on proposals to relaunch the Lisbon Agenda, an ambitious set of reforms and targets that aims to boost Europe's competitiveness vis-a-vis the US and other leading economies.
José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, has made the relaunch the priority of his five-year tenure.
The Commission wants to focus on improving spending on research and development, reducing the regulatory burden for businesses and making the EU a more attractive place for investment and job creation.
But as today's study suggests, the bloc will have to outperform the US substantially in the years ahead simply to draw level with the American economy.
“It will take the EU until 2056 to reach US productivity rates per [person] employed, and then only if EU productivity growth [exceeds] that of the US by 0.5 per cent per year,” the Eurochambres study says.
It adds that since 1994, US productivity growth has outpaced the EU's.
On R&D investment, the EU would have to wait until 2123 to match US levels and then only if investment were to exceed that in the US by 0.5 per cent every year.
Christoph Leitl, president of Eurochambres, said: “We urge European leaders at the summit [later this month] to focus on the economy because without the economy, Europe does not have a future. It's a question ofsurvival.”
“欧盟经济仅相当美国70年代水平”
一份引发争论的研究报告说，目前欧盟的经济相当于美国上世纪70年代末的水平。该研究显示，在现有最新可比数据的2003年，欧盟就业率仅达到略高于64%的水平，而美国在1978年就达到了这一比例。欧盟的研发支出与美国1979年的水平相当。
在人均国内生产总值(GDP)指标方面，欧盟的表现要稍微好些，2003年欧盟这一指标为25336美元，与1985年美国的人均GDP数字相当。
与此同时，美国在1989年就实现了欧洲在2003年每位工人的GDP水平。
这份研究报告将于今天由欧洲商会(Eurochambres)提交，该报告突出了欧盟决策者们在努力提高欧洲经济竞争力时所面临的挑战。欧洲商会是一个泛欧商业组织。
欧盟各国政府首脑将于本月就重新启动里斯本议程(Lisbon Agenda)的建议做出决策。里斯本议程是一套雄心勃勃的改革和目标，旨在增强欧洲相对于美国和其它领先经济体的竞争力。
欧盟委员会主席若泽?曼努埃尔?巴罗佐(José Manuel Barroso)已把重新启动该议程作为他5年任期内的优先事务。
欧盟委员会希望把重点放在加大研发支出、降低企业的监管负担、让欧盟在投资和创造就业方面更具吸引力等。
但正如今天这份研究所显示的那样，即使要达到与美国经济相同的水平，欧洲也必须在未来数年里大幅度领先于美国。
“欧盟要到2056年才能达到美国每位工人的生产力水平，而且只有欧洲的生产力增长率每年（超过）美国0.5%才能做到，”欧洲商会的研究说。
该研究还补充指出，自1994年以来，美国的生产力增长速度就超过了欧盟。
在研发投资方面，欧盟需要等到2123年才能达到美国的水平，而且只有欧洲的研发投资每年都比美国高出0.5%才能达到。
欧洲商会主席克里斯多夫?莱特尔(Christoph Leitl)说：“我们敦促欧洲领导人在(本月晚些时候的)峰会上重点关注经济，因为如果没有经济，欧洲就没有未来。这是一个关系到生存的问题。”
