In 2006 productivity grew strongly in the EU

According to the EU's annual competitiveness reportworker productivity in the bloc increased by 1.5 per cent in 2006 – the highest level so far this millennium, and a tenth of a point better than the rate in the US over the same period.

European Union officials hailed the 27-member bloc's economic reforms as
they announced that its growth in industrial productivity had outstripped that
of the United States for the first time in years.
The real growth rates of the EU-27 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were both in
the last quarter of 2006 3.5% year-on-year) and in the whole year (3.0%) the
highest since the year 2000.