Combination of technology, capital, labor lead
to gains.Americans are the most productive workers in the
world, and technology is one of the reasons why,
according to a just-released report by the United
Nation's International Labor Organization.
American workers add $63,885 each year to their
economies, while the Irish, who came in second, add
$55,986.
Beside the U.S. and Ireland, the other top-five most
productive countries include Luxembourg, where workers
add $55,641; Belgium, where citizens add $55,235; and
France, where employees add $54,609 to the economy.
The International Labor Organization calculates
productivity by dividing a country's output
by the number of its citizens employed.
Increases in productivity were the result of companies
combining capital, labor and technology, said the
report, which is titled "Key Indicators of the Labour
Market." On the other hand, the UN agency said, a lack
of investment in equipment, people and technology can
lead to an underutilized labor pool.
The report noted that U.S. workers also
put in more hours each year than employees in other
developed countries and that productivity in East
Asian countries is rising quickly — with workers in
that region producing twice as much as they did 10
years ago.
From 1980 to 2005, American productivity increased
1.7%, while China's productivity increased 5.7%,
Korea's productivity rose 4.7%, and Taiwan's
4.1%.
While experts have debated the impact information
technology has on productivity, many chief information
officers seem confident that adopting emerging
technologies allows their companies to get more done.
More than half-55%—of the information chiefs
polled by CIO Insight for its Emerging Technologies
survey, which was published last month, said
increasing productivity was a major reason they
deployed new computer and communications devices. Seventy percent of those respondents said emerging technologies had met or exceed their expectations.
IT Management 
