[HN Gopher] US sees largest productivity drop since 1947 [pdf]
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US sees largest productivity drop since 1947 [pdf]
Author : ren_engineer
Score : 30 points
Date : 2022-05-05 18:40 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bls.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bls.gov)
| bitshiftfaced wrote:
| https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OPHNFB#
|
| The last big bump came after the great recession. Labor got
| squeezed out by necessity. This time, it's almost like the
| reverse. We worked drastically less hours right at the beginning,
| but output didn't fall in lockstep. Productivity increased, but
| has dragged its feet since more and more people reenter the
| workforce.
|
| If you zoom out, the pace looks on track with the overall trend
| before COVID, so perhaps it's just a neutral outcome with no
| major takeaways.
| whatshisface wrote:
| The title is misleading - the productivity drop in Q1 2022 is
| almost equal to the increase in Q4 2021. Together, they average
| out. This is visible on the first graph, where two roughly equal
| bars go up and down on the right hand (near-present) side.
|
| Overall productivity seems to be _up_ since 2020, according to
| the hours worked / output series in chart 3. Output had already
| recovered to pre-pandemic levels in Q3 2021, but hours worked did
| not - leading to an improved productivity ratio as the BLS
| calculates it.
| PenguinCoder wrote:
| It fits the narrative of getting employees back into the
| office; because WFH employees are unproductive, just look at
| this study.
| whatshisface wrote:
| That is why Chart 3 is especially ironic, it shows
| productivity recovering before hours worked. (I wouldn't
| over-interpret this though, I don't know how any of these
| statistics are calculated.)
| dijonman2 wrote:
| What? There is no such thing, WFH employees are more
| productive without interruption.
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