French Labor Productivity Figures Support Tire CEO's Criticism

When the head of a major U.S. tire manufacturer mocked French factory workers as lazy, French officialdom fired back in an angry huff. But a look at actual statistics comparing U.S. and French manufacturing worker productivity tends to support the CEO's criticism. …

Since 2003, U.S. workers' output per hour has topped the output per hour of French workers. In 2011, the last year for which the BLS has published statistics, French workers produced about 80 percent of what their American counterparts produced.

American workers top their French counterparts in output per employed person. In 2011 the output per employed French worker was 78 percent of his or her American counterpart, according to the BLS.