European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 8, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Losing theh Tow a m War t by Floyd Norris associated press he United states is losing to productivity War and Rubin Portal May be a victim. The 55-year-old autoworkers lost his Job in june when fora motor co. Stopped building Fairmont and Zephyr cars at its Plant in Mahwah . The 25-year-old Plant was closed while japanese autoworkers were working overtime producing vehicles for which americans sometimes paid More than the list Price. The u s. Suto Industry is in trouble for Many reasons including the companies tardiness in Rico Gnu Hig the de Mand for Small fuel efficient cars. Foreign cars May Cap Ture a record 25 percent to 30 percent share of the  this year. But key Factor is that Japan s highly automat cd plants sri sore efficient fax ii their american counterparts. List year for example Toyota produced 50 can per production employee five times the american average. The automobile Industry is a major part of the Ameri can Economy but not typical of it. American workers Overall remain More productive than any other worker sin the world. But the Gap is narrowing. Portal whose Job was to fix up the trim on cars that were destined for executives and other important custom ers does t see it that Way. I think we were As modern As anyone he said from his Home in new York a few weeks after Ford ended his 28 years of employment including the entire history of the Mahwah Plant. He blamed the brainwashing of american Consumers into thinking the japanese made belter cars and says he and his fellow workers made Good vehicles. However Ford cited the relatively Low Quality of cars made at Mahwah and Ford officials say that the need to fix production mistakes is a major part of their productivity problems. Last year according to government figures the aver age japanese worker produced 66 percent As much As the average american while the average West German pro Duc Cess percent As much. Six years earlier the figure Shad been 55 percent and 74 percent respectively and some businessmen see the trend continuing. The average american is Likely to see his Standard of living drastically decline in the 1930s unless the United states accelerates its rate of productivity growth said Congress joint economic committee. Productivity simply is Bow much is produced by one worker. The Bureau of labor statistics figures that productivity in private business grew at an average Rale of 3,2 last year Toyota produced 50 cars per production employee five times the we could me ome of that ctw4p american  percent a year from 1949 to 1959, 2.9 percent from 1959 to 1969, and 1.3 percent in the next 10 years. In 1979, productivity actually fell by 0.9 percent and it was Down again in the first Quarter of 1980, at an annual rate of 0.7percent. A rate of 3 percent does t sound very Large but the net effect of the growth in productivity was to vastly increase the income of american businesses. More could go both to workers and to owners and the Standard of living of americans kept rising. Had we maintained a 3 percent productivity growth rate during the 1970s, real us. Output would now be $400 billion higher says Willard c. Butcher the presi Dent of Chase Manhattan Bank adding that amounts to about $4,000 per household if equally distributed. As it is the real income of the average is. Worker after inflation is now lower than it was in 1974. With the end of big productivity increases pay raises Are now regularly outstripping increased production. To some economist the inevitable result is rising inflation. Productivity in Many industries is not easy to measure and comparisons Between countries make the figures even less exact. Bet there is some reason Why the other nations Are coming in Here and gelling products cheaper than ours said c. Jackson Grayson the head of the american productivity Center a non profit organization based in Houston. It in t just thai foreign governments Are providing  there Are plenty of reasons offered for the decline an almost As Many suggested solutions. On of the alarming things b that we doa l blow the reason for the slowdown in prods mtg  u happening and we Don t know Why � american  businesses Are now using the productivity problem As a major argument for a change in tax Laws that reduce the taxes businesses pay thereby freeing Money for investment. But unions see no need for changes and one stud concludes that produce would improve if workers took Over ownership of companies. Fit is Clear that in the 1970s productivity growth wife not considered As important As it once was. Many ome regulations protecting the environment and Sestanj of assure worker and consumer safety were imposed. One vault was that a lot of investment that Mitt have gone into better production instead went into reducing pollution or improving safety. The Issue is not whether government regulation reduced measured productivity. It clearly has. But ill not be undesirable for All that. After All better Psi cleaner air and fewer accidents Are desirable no Timothy Hannan an economist with the Federal Reser Bank of Philadelphia. But Hannan siding with Many businessmen says thai new regulations must be subjected to a careful Analy Saj of How the benefits relate to the costs. Ithe effect of rising Oil prices also seems Clear to Sotoff economists. With Energy costs rising much faster thai wages a lot of companies decided it was economical to use More workers and fewer machines. . Energy productivity the amount of Energy used to produce on item improved sharply in the late 1970s. As inflation Rose the amount of Money available of a investment from profits and depreciation became Les made quite according to economists and the United stale fell behind in replacing its Industrial machinery. Inv Bank the big new York Bank Points to that in Cone ing that inflation is More a cause than a result of inclining productivity. J there Are other reasons advanced by sont. At Post world War ii baby Boom Pew up and by a proportion of wives sought jobs be Economy wag j flooded with Large number of fax pertained ers who wort naturally less productive. The Industrial Union department of the Points to that cause As a reason the productivity is transitory and not a reason to provide Yunwu tax Breaks for giant corporations and the Well-to-do."1 while a lot of blame is directed at he Govena Many analysts Point to individual businesses which say have often failed to make productivity a prior Irja Frank a. Weil a former assistant Secretary of Merce cites As a problem the extraordinary Tion of the american business manager with results improving productivity he says require Orange planning. Corporate management must commit the continual productivity improvement Sayi Mccaro executive vice president of Texas in inc., a company that figures itt productivity percent a year in the decade ended in 1978.management that is committed to squeezing to last year of production out of obsolete equipment the tend and True methods of the past will into opportunities to improve productivity Mccord for an individual company increasing Prodo not just a matter of buying More and better must also motivate its workers and Mccord emphasize listen to their complaints and workers in some plants have rebelled against to programs which they see As Speed ups. When it j perceived As work work harder.1 backlash says Tarry Ward a staff member american productivity Center who works Wilk Page the stars and stripes to