EU: Productivity problems

The European Commission is “alarmed” at the gap between productivity in the USA and the EU. Investment in new information technologies and communications is to come.

New information technologies and communications are the two areas in which the European Union is to invest, to bridge the considerable gap between the 15 and the USA as regards competitiveness in productivity.

Productivity rates have decreased in the EU since 1995, while they have increased in the USA. The European Commission blames under-investment in new information technologies and communications for the gap. In the seven years between 1992 and 1999, investment in EU countries was 5.6% of GDP, whereas in the United States, it was 8.1%.

New information technologies are described as the “intellectual capital of the European Union” by the Commission in Brussels, which has approved an investment package to narrow the gap in productivity, which means competitiveness, with the USA.

John ASHTEAD PRAVDA.Ru LONDON UNITED KINGDOM