According to a United Nations study, U.S. workers topped the world's productivity for 2002. U.S. productivity growth in 2002 averaged 2.2% compared to 1% in Europe and 1.1% in Japan. Higher productivity in the U.S. is a result of Americans working relatively long weeks and taking fewer holidays than workers in other countries. The study also showed that technology was a critical factor in productivity, as more developed countries were able to achieve much higher productivity than less developed countries.
See "Report Says U.S. Workers Top World's Productivity", Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2003