Global Economic News and Analysis
Written by Steven Hansen [Note: This post is a markup of the preliminary data post] A simple summary of this release is that the rate of productivity growth has been gently growing year-over-year , whilst the rate of growth of labor costs is undergoing a growth spurt. Overall, the year-over-year increase of unit labor costs …
Continue reading “Productivity 4Q2012 (Final): Productivity, Labor Little Changed from Preliminary”
Written by Elliott Morss, Morss Global Finance Introduction In my recent article on manufacturing, I pointed out that the vast majority of job losses in the last 50 years were the result of technology gains rather than foreign competition. I also predicted that the prospects for US manufacturing were quite good because the labor share …
Written by Steven Hansen A simple summary of this release is that the rate of productivity growth has been gently growing year-over-year , whilst the rate of growth of labor costs is undergoing a growth spurt. Overall, the year-over-year increase of unit labor costs had remained moderate since the Great Recession. The headlines annualize quarterly …
Continue reading “Productivity 4Q2012 (Preliminary): Productivity Down, Labor Costs Up”
by Guest Author Timothy Taylor, Conversable Economist There’s a basic and often-told story about output and employment in the U.S. manufacturing sector: I’m sure I’ve told it a time or two myself. The story begins by pointing out that the total quantity of U.S. manufacturing output has actually held up fairly well over recent decades, …
Continue reading “Cautionary Details on U.S. Manufacturing Productivity: Susan Houseman”
by Elliott Morss, Morss Global Finance Introduction The way the US economic system is structured, employment is key: an unemployment rate higher than 6% is a problem. And there is great concern about job losses in manufacturing. How justified is this concern? To understand what is happening, a brief review of how overall employment in …
Continue reading “US Manufacturing: What Are The Prospects?”