Economy

U.S. productivity growth could slow in 2011 as job creation accelerates

by Vicki Needham - 01/17/11 4:03 PM ET

Overall, U.S. growth could expand by 2.5 percent this year and show 2.9 percent growth in 2010, compared with 1.6 percent this year and 1.7 percent last year for Europe, the report estimated.

U.S. labor productivity growth increased by about 2.8 percent last year but should slow to around 1.1 percent this year, the Conference Board estimated. European labor productivity should slow to 1.3 percent this year from 1.7 percent in 2010.

U.S. workers will work about 1 percent more hours in 2011, while that figure will be lower in Europe, only about a 0.4 percent increase this year compared with 0.1 percent last year, the Conference Board reported.

“While advanced regions left recession firmly in the rearview mirror, emerging economies continue to drive both global growth and global productivity growth,” the report said.

Among the report’s key points:

Among emerging countries, China and India remain the largest and most dynamic economies in productivity terms, with respective productivity growth of 8.7 percent and 5.4 percent in 2010.
In 2010, Turkey’s productivity growth increased, Brazil outperformed the Latin American region as a whole, and Russia’s productivity growth recovered remarkably.

Tags