Citation
(2008), "Listen to the figures", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 57 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2008.07957eab.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Listen to the figures
Article Type: News From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 57, Issue 5
According to America’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, productivity grew at an annual rate of 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007. Sounds OK … but Professor Robert Gordon of Chicago’s Northwestern University has calculated that the long-term trend rate for productivity growth has fallen back to 1995 levels. It appears that if there was a spurt in productivity growth, it was relatively short-lived.
So remember, a few years of above-trend productivity growth do not make a new economy and the American economy is not as dynamic as many claim … productivity growth is a very useful indicator of underlying economic strength.