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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 134 -- Productivity Growth.

American Productivity Growth-

Yesterday, the Labor Department announced that nonfarm productivity grew at a rate of 2.2% in the Second Quarter of 2005. This is a healthy rate, historically.

Some post-war perspective:

Over the past few years, productivity growth has outpaced the post-WWII average, particularly the stretch of the 1970s and 1980s.

Some economists believe the "jobless recovery" the U.S. experienced (notice: past tense) was, in part, due to exploding productivity gains. Ridiculously rapid productivity gains are great for any economy in the big picture. Rising productivity causes wages, standard of living, and GDP to rise.

It's good, all around, to see rapid productivity growth, but it's not necessarily the best news for the incumbent's short-term political fortunes, as employers have little reason to hire additional employees in times of high productivity growth.

When productivity growth goes hand-in-hand with job growth (even manufacturing job growth), you know the economy is in good shape, for now and for the foreseeable future.

Source:
Joint Economic Committee, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and the U.S. Department of Labor (.pdf).

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Inflation.

Posted by Will Franklin · 10 August 2005 07:22 AM

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