Productivity, Machinery and Skills in the United States and Western Europe

Previous intra‐European comparisons carried out at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) have identified close links between inter‐country differences in ‘intermediate’ — shopfloor, technician and supervisory — skill levels and relative labour productivity performance. However, in this context the economic performance of the United States constitutes a ‘puzzle’ of considerable interest for, in spite of intense concern about the apparent inadequacies of education and training provision below four‐year degree level in the US, average labour productivity levels in US manufacturing and in the economy as a whole remain the highest in the world.