Some interesting productivity numbers this month however.
The Labor Department said non-farm productivity surged at a 9.5 percent annual rate, the quickest pace since the third quarter of 2003. Productivity grew at a 6.9 percent pace in the April-June period.American workers are producing more with fewer people and doing so with fewer hours, and yet wages are stagnant or falling. Gotta love how that bodes for the recovery.Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast productivity, which measures the hourly output per worker, rising at a 6.4 percent rate in the third quarter.
Productivity in manufacturing rose at a record 13.6 percent rate in the third quarter.
Total non-farm output rebounded, growing at a 4 percent rate in the July-September quarter after dropping 1.1 percent in the previous period.
Productivity has increased sharply over the past two quarters, largely driven by aggressive cost cutting by businesses.
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2 comments:
Fear of providing for your own existence certainly helps productivity, I don't know how long we can keep that trend up without consequences though.
I doubt it will be kept up very long. There comes a point where people think they might gain more by smashing and rebuilding the system than just going along with it.
Ask the French what happened when that point was reached. It was only a couple of centuries ago.
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