the problem lies in the way we measure productivity. Official statistics (GDP / Hours Worked) do not measure physical efficiency (how many pieces go out), but monetary value added. As the data on Asian countries show, which are never compared with Italy because otherwise the whole ‘low productivity’ hypothesis would fall, Italy (~$74-75) has a much higher statistical productivity than Japan (~$51-69) and South Korea (~$47-64).
We are almost equal to Taiwan, the world leader in semiconductors. Moreover, according to statistics, we have five times the productivity of China, the country where everything is robotized and where salaries in major cities are now around $1,200 per month (with a lower cost of living). China, which is now the first country in the world in automation, robots, use of artificial intelligence, perfect infrastructure, where everything works without delays, appears five times less productive than Italy in the statistics. The explanation is that labour productivity statistics outside of factories, where you can measure it in terms of how many parts come out in how much time, essentially measures the profit margins of companies. This discrepancy exists essentially because ‘labour productivity’ actually reflects (outside of manufacturing) profit margins and market power.
If an insurance company, a travel company, a gas or electricity company, a pharmaceutical company, a bank, a hotel chain or supermarket, a company that makes chocolate or crisps earns a lot, like margins, then it turns out that ‘productivity’ is high.
To trivialise, Louis Vuitton and Ferrari are ten times more productive than Benetton and Stellantis. France, for example, has less industrial production and fewer exports than Italy, but is more productive because, for example, it has a very large luxury and financial sector. Labour productivity, at the macroeconomic level, does not measure physical efficiency (how many bolts you tighten), but monetary value added.
The standard calculation is $GDP / Hours Worked. But since GDP is, to simplify, the sum of profits, rents and wages, if a company has enormous market power (a monopoly, a luxury brand, or inflated energy tariffs), that company will be ‘productive’, even if its employees work exactly the same as those of a competing company.