What accounts different productivity levels in Europe?

In this Special Report , we look for reasons that may explain differences in countries’ productivity. We also seek to explain why French productivity is paradoxically higher than that of its European partners. To this end, we examine the evolution of productivity by sector . We note that in many economic sectors, such as services, manufacturing industry and the civil service, French productivity is higher than that of its neighbours. There are four ma in reasons for this: unemployment, public spending, hourly labour costs and capital intensity . Adjusting for these factors the differences in productivity become neglectable.