A drop in the region's relative productivity would make it harder to sustain growth and would require adjusting the level of activity (or employment) or the real exchange rate in order to regain competitiveness, to the detriment of equality, at least in the short run. Figure 1.14 shows how Latin America's relative productivity has evolved with respect to the United States since 1990 and confirms a negative trend that raises questions about the future: from 18% of the United States rate in 1990, the region's productivity has fallen to just 15% twenty years later. Productivity and structure move in tandem, changes in the production structure are tied to the evolution of productivity differentials between developing and developed countries.