The slowdown in productivity weighs on growth in France

In the debates to improve French growth, economists often point to the lower employment rate in France (67% in 2022) than in other countries, Germany in particular (75%). In a note published on Thursday, the Economic Analysis Council (CAE), an organization attached to Matignon, insists on a subject that is at least as important, but underestimated in the public debate: the relative decline in productivity in the country since about twenty years compared to that observed across the Rhine and in the United States.

“Over the period 2006 to 2019, France lost 7 points of GDP per capita compared to Germany and the drop in productivity explains around 5 points”, write the authors of the study, Maria Guadalupe, Xavier Jaravel, Thomas Philippon and David Sraer.