Although the euro area economy’s stability under EMU has been remarkable, its performance in terms of average growth rates has been less impressive. Since the beginning of the 1990s, euro area real GDP growth has been equal, on average, to 2.1 per cent, compared with 2.8 per cent in the United States.
Since the beginning of EMU, the annual growth rate for the euro area has averaged 2.2 per cent per year, compared with 2.7% in the US. A key reason for the euro area’s moderate performance is the comparatively low trend growth in labour productivity.