US productivity growth lowest for decade | Brèves

The US economy last year recorded its lowest rate of labour productivity growth in more than a decade, with growth in output per hour worked falling behind the EU and Japan. The fall casts further doubt on the ability of the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as the US economy slows.

Research to be published on Tuesday by the Conference Board, the international business organisation, shows that US labour productivity in the whole economy grew by 1.4 per cent in 2006 as slower economic growth was combined with a rapid rise in employment.

Gail Fosler, the chief economist of the Conference Board, told the Financial Times that the fall in productivity growth was unlikely to be cyclical and the result of weaker gains in services’ industries, raising “concerns about the long-lasting productivity impact of information and communications technology”...

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Financial Times

GEAB N°65 - Contents

- Published on May 16, 2012 -

Global systemic crisis / Second half of 2012 – Convergence of four explosive factors: Banks-Stock Exchanges-Pensions-Debts
Whilst waiting for Euroland to equip itself, by the end of 2012, with a medium to long term common political, economic and social project, especially following the election of the new French president François Hollande, anticipated many months ago by LEAP/E2020, players will remain prisoners of the short-term reflexes related to the sudden Greek political tremors, the uncertainties over Euroland governance and to the risks in public debts… (page 2)
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Which languages must your child learn to be useful to him in twenty years ? Anticipation of the principal intra-European and world common languages in a 2030 timframe
Beyond its cultural interest LEAP/E2020 has created this anticipation as a tool to aid decision-making, individual (parents for the education of their children) as much as collective (public education institutions, universities, states, international businesses). Individual and joint strategies as regards language teaching are long term processes needing fundamental choices to be made almost a generation in advance… (page 11)
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Strategic and operational recommendations
. Currencies-Gold: Stay on course
. Pensions: Preserving one’s capital
. Stock Exchanges: Last exit before chaos
. Banks: Maximum distrust
. Government bonds: The trap is closing (page 21)
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The GlobalEurometre - Results & Analysis
The majority of respondents believing that their country’s major banks could go bankrupt by the end of 2012 has risen to 66% this month (versus 61% last month)… (page 23)
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