In 1870, labor productivity in Western Europe was approximately 70 percent of labor productivity in the United States. This rate gradually fell over the next 80 years, to less than half of the U.S. rate by 1950. In Southern and Eastern Europe, productivity was less than half of Western Europe's rate and more than half a century behind. Over this period, much of Western Europe was devastated by two world wars; while the U.S.' industrial development was not hindered in the same way and structurally, the U.S. was largely untouched by the war. By the end of the century, Western Europe had mostly caught up with the U.S.. Although overall productivity in the EU in 1990 was 90 percent of the U.S.' rate, there were some individual countries, such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France, where GDP per capita or productivity were actually higher than in the U.S..
Labor productivity in Western Europe as a share of productivity in the United States in select years between 1870 and 1990
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Cambridge University Press. (August 31, 2006). Labor productivity in Western Europe as a share of productivity in the United States in select years between 1870 and 1990 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1073253/european-labor-productivity-as-share-of-the-us-rate-1870-1950/
Cambridge University Press. "Labor productivity in Western Europe as a share of productivity in the United States in select years between 1870 and 1990." Chart. August 31, 2006. Statista. Accessed July 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1073253/european-labor-productivity-as-share-of-the-us-rate-1870-1950/
Cambridge University Press. (2006). Labor productivity in Western Europe as a share of productivity in the United States in select years between 1870 and 1990. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: July 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1073253/european-labor-productivity-as-share-of-the-us-rate-1870-1950/
Cambridge University Press. "Labor Productivity in Western Europe as a Share of Productivity in The United States in Select Years between 1870 and 1990." Statista, Statista Inc., 31 Aug 2006, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1073253/european-labor-productivity-as-share-of-the-us-rate-1870-1950/
Cambridge University Press, Labor productivity in Western Europe as a share of productivity in the United States in select years between 1870 and 1990 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1073253/european-labor-productivity-as-share-of-the-us-rate-1870-1950/ (last visited July 22, 2024)
Labor productivity in Western Europe as a share of productivity in the United States in select years between 1870 and 1990 [Graph], Cambridge University Press, August 31, 2006. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1073253/european-labor-productivity-as-share-of-the-us-rate-1870-1950/