Posted by & filed under Economic Analysis, Governments & Regulators, Growth & Valuation, Management Issues.

Description: When the U.S. economy emerged from the recession in June 2009, productivity was rising at a fast clip. Companies had spent the downturn cutting jobs and were lean and efficient. Productivity—output per hour worked—jumped 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as workers did more with less. But as the recovery has chugged on, productivity growth has stalled, averaging less than 1 percent a year since 2011. Workers were actually less efficient in the first quarter of 2014, producing fewer goods and services per hour than they had during the previous quarter.

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: May 15, 2014

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-15/us-productivity-stalls-as-companies-invest-in-buybacks-dividends#r=hp-lst

Questions for Discussions:

  • What does this report say about the reasons for changing rates of productivity?
  • Should government be expected to respond?

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