From a cost standpoint, I have seen it both ways also. But from an estimating standpoint on international projects, productivity factors against USGC are always shown as worse productivity being greater than 1. For example Malaysia = 1.38, Philippines 2.0, Western Europe 1.1, etc. Just because there is a higher productivity factor does not mean the craftsmen are less efficient at executing the work. It is more to do with the local work practices, location or cost of labor. For example, why rent a back hoe when you can hire a lot of laborers for $2.00 an hour to dig the same hole. It may take a little longer but it will still be cheaper.
At end of the day, it really doesnt matter, the data tells the same story, many moons ago i was trained with A/E, now E/A is more common. If you plot out the graph the 2 approaches are just mirror images of each other. You just need to adjust your formulas as required.
