Furthermore, the employment rate in 2005, at 64%, remains considerably lower than the employment rate in the US, where it stood at 71% in 2005.
The main factor behind these developments is the disappointingly low trend in hourly labour productivity growth in the euro area, which declined to an average 1.2% over the period 2000-2004, down from 1.8% during the 1990s and 2.4% during the 1980s.