In the euro area, only Finland and Ireland have reached a comparable level with the U.S. in this field. Human capital improvements in these countries came together with a fast development of the sectors within information and communication technologies. As a consequence, they enjoy a labour productivity growth performance which is significantly above the euro area average.
A comparison with the U.S. illustrates the knowledge gap very well: in the US, annual expenditure on higher education institutions per student represent 57.8% of GDP per capita, while in the euro area 35% is spent. Creating well functioning, competitive and efficient markets is another key aspect of the Lisbon strategy. In a number of fields clear progress has been made.