USA workaholics

[Lawrence]

>>>>
In the best news for the United States, the report ranked the country
No. 1 in the world in productivity per worker. It said that last year,
productivity per American worker in constant 1990 dollars was $54,870,
about $1,500 more than Belgium, the No. 2 nation. The report found
that productivity per worker in the United States was $10,000 higher
than in Canada last year, and $14,000 higher than in Japan.
<<<<

I remember an issue of the LBO from the mid-90s in which Doug pointed out
how much Germany and France had closed the productivity gap with America.
Germany, in particular, was within the margin of error of the statistics and
therefore the difference in their numbers and America's was statistically
insignificant. Does this new report suggest that the long relative decline
of America's productivity is over, or that the boom has temporarily masked
the still underlying weakness?


>>>>
But partly because of the comparatively high number of hours that
Americans work, the report found that France and Belgium edged out the
United States in productivity per hour. In France, which ranked first,
workers produced $33.71 of value added per hour on average, compared
with $32.98 in Belgium and $32.84 in the United States.
<<<<

France has the highest worker productivity per hour? That makes little
intuitive sense to me. Why is its economy not doing better if this is so?