Editing Marshall Plan (section)

===Technical Assistance Program===
[[File:Marshallplanhilfe.gif|thumb|Construction in West Berlin with the help of the Marshall Plan after 1948. The plaque reads: "Emergency Program Berlin – with the help of the Marshall Plan"]]
[[File:MarshallDonkey.jpg|thumb|US aid to Greece under the Marshall Plan]]

A high priority was increasing industrial productivity in Europe, which proved one of the more successful aspects of the Marshall Plan.{{sfn|Fossat|2018|pages=582–600}} The US [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]] (BLS) contributed heavily to the success of the Technical Assistance Program. The United States Congress passed a law on June 7, 1940, that allowed the BLS to "make continuing studies of labor productivity"{{sfn|Wasser|Dolfman|2005|p=44}} and appropriated funds for the creation of a Productivity and Technological Development Division. The BLS could then use its expertise in the field of productive efficiency to implement a productivity drive in each Western European country receiving Marshall Plan aid. Counterpart funds were used to finance large-scale tours of American industry. France, for example, sent 500 missions with 4700 businessmen and experts to tour American factories, farms, stores, and offices. They were especially impressed with the prosperity of American workers, and how they could purchase an inexpensive new automobile for nine months work, compared to 30 months in France.{{sfn|Kuisel|1993|pp=70–102}}

By implementing technological literature surveys and organized plant visits, American economists, statisticians, and engineers were able to educate European manufacturers in statistical measurement. The goal of the statistical and technical assistance from the Americans was to increase productive efficiency of European manufacturers in all industries.

To conduct this analysis, the BLS performed two types of productivity calculations. First, they used existing data to calculate how much a worker produces per hour of work—the average output rate. Second, they compared the existing output rates in a particular country to output rates in other nations. By performing these calculations across all industries, the BLS was able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each country's manufacturing and industrial production. From that, the BLS could recommend technologies (especially statistical) that each individual nation could implement. Often, these technologies came from the United States; by the time the Technical Assistance Program began, the United States used statistical technologies "more than a generation ahead of what [the Europeans] were using".{{sfn|Wasser|Dolfman|2005|p=44}}

The BLS used these statistical technologies to create Factory Performance Reports for Western European nations. The American government sent hundreds of technical advisers to Europe to observe workers in the field. This on-site analysis made the Factory Performance Reports especially helpful to the manufacturers. In addition, the Technical Assistance Program funded 24,000 European engineers, leaders, and industrialists to visit America and tour America's factories, mines, and manufacturing plants.{{sfn|Johnson|2002|p=2}} This way, the European visitors would be able to return to their home countries and implement the technologies used in the United States. The analyses in the Factory Performance Reports and the "hands-on" experience had by the European productivity teams effectively identified productivity deficiencies in European industries; from there, it became clearer how to make European production more effective.

Before the Technical Assistance Program even went into effect, [[United States Secretary of Labor]] [[Maurice J. Tobin|Maurice Tobin]] expressed his confidence in American productivity and technology to both American and European economic leaders. He urged that the United States play a large role in improving European productive efficiency by providing four recommendations for the program's administrators:
# That BLS productivity personnel should serve on American-European councils for productivity;
# that productivity targets (based on American productivity standards) can and should be implemented to increase productivity;
# that there should be a general exchange and publication of information; and
# that the "technical abstract" service should be the central source of information.{{sfn|Wasser|Dolfman|2005|p=44}}

The effects of the Technical Assistance Program were not limited to improvements in productive efficiency. While the thousands of European leaders took their work/study trips to the United States, they were able to observe a number of aspects of American society as well. The Europeans could watch local, state, and federal governments work together with citizens in a pluralist society. They observed a democratic society with open universities and civic societies in addition to more advanced factories and manufacturing plants. The Technical Assistance Program allowed Europeans to bring home many types of American ideas.{{sfn|Johnson|2002|p=2}}

Another important aspect of the Technical Assistance Program was its low cost. While $19.4 billion was allocated for capital costs in the Marshall Plan, the Technical Assistance Program only required $300 million. Only one-third of that $300 million cost was paid by the United States.{{sfn|Wasser|Dolfman|2005|p=49}}