Comparison of U.S. Economy with Germany and Greece - Essay Example

The country has benefited because of industrialization and currently is the world’s second largest exporter. The economy of Greece is ranked 15th in the 27 member European Union. The economy of Greece revolves around the service sector. The economy is classified as advanced and high income one. Greece is one of the founding members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The economy witnessed a miracle in the period of 1950 to 1970. The Second World War had devastating effects on the economy.

Unemployment The current unemployment conditions prevailing in U.S. is taken into account at first. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012) The number of unemployed persons remained unchanged at 12.8 million in the last month. The rate of unemployment was 8.3 percent which is less than 0.8 percent than the rate prevailing at August, 2011. The unemployment rates for both men and women constituting the major working group were 7.7 percent. The month of February saw both increase in labor force and employment.

In Germany, unemployed persons are transferred to unemployment assistance after the exhaustion of their insurance benefits. The International Labor Organization published the unemployment rate of Germany as 5.7% in 2011 and 6.8% in 2010. . The rate increased during the phase of recession but stayed at less than 9%. The unemployment rate in Greece in the 1st quarter of 2011 was 15.9% (Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2011). The rate of unemployment for females and males were 19.5% and 13.3% respectively.

However, a significant portion of the unemployed rejected job offers in the 1st quarter of 2011 mainly constraints on the location of the job, unsatisfactory wage and working hours. Next we consider the case of productivity for U.S. The U.S. economy has experienced average annual percentage change of 1.8% and 2.2% in nonfarm business sector and manufacturing sector respectively in 2007-2011 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). The annual average productivity growth in the last year failed to match the expectations.

In both the discussed sectors the unit labor costs were revised upwards. Productivity Germany experienced positive productivity growth in the period of 2000-2008. The country experienced growth on a cumulative basis compared to the Euro trading partners. The economy is experiencing significant breakthrough after it lost the competitiveness in 1990s. According to the European Central Bank, the country is better placed than any time in the past decade. The industry of Germany is embracing on information technology which acted as the major driving force in the United States in 1990s. The U.S.

economy is only between 6th and 10th in terms of productivity. Greece showed the fastest labor productivity in the second half of 1990s. The country is ranked 4th among the European Union in terms of productivity with the annual rate of growth of 3.1% (Gelauff, 2004, p. 53). Inflation The current rate of inflation in U.S. for February, 2012 is 2.87%, a mere