{podcast} Over the first two decades of the currency union, labour productivity (output per worker) in the euro area has been weak, at least when compared to other advanced economies. While productivity grew annually on average by 0.6 percent from 1999 to 2019, the average pace was more than twice as fast in the United States. Productivity somewhat recovered after the pandemic, but more recently the picture changed for the worse again: In 2023, productivity in the eurozone fell by almost 1 percent while it grew by 0.5 percent in the US. We discuss the drivers of recent weak productivity growth, how it might develop ... (full story)