Once again, however, the slowdown was a common trend across the Atlantic, and Europe continued to perform better on average, with labour productivity growth rates of almost 3 percent over the period from 1974 to 1994, compared to just over 1 percent in the U.S.. As a result, the catching-up process continued and the productivity gap was almost closed in the first half of the 1990s, according to available estimates.
In order to guarantee this, the ECB’s monetary policy will remain committed to its price stability objective. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches