The average productivity of US workers, as measured by the hour, is steadily improving, the Labor Department reports. The increase in the third quarter was 2%, the data show, over the same period a year earlier—the fifth straight quarter with a gain of at least that much. That matters because the faster productivity grows, the faster the economy can grow. And productivity has been key to the nation's economic growth relative to other nations' economies, the Wall Street Journal reports. But it's a mixed bag for the workers themselves. Several factors could be contributing to the improvement:
- The pandemic: Since COVID-19 arrived, companies have had to find new ways to accomplish tasks, often moving to new technologies. Restaurants began to rely on QR codes instead of paper menus, and Zoom calls replaced out-of-town travel for employees. And workers sometimes moved into more productive positions, as employers struggling to staff after the shutdown offered better pay and greater responsibilities.
- AI: A gym owner in Boston employs an artificial-intelligence model to write marketing plans and draft emails and social media posts. tasks loaded with company documents, sales materials and other information. Work that used to take Vic Viktorov hours now takes minutes, and sales are up 30%. "It allows us to be lean, nimble and fast," he said.
- Influx of migrants: New arrivals often do manual labor, which can push workers previously in those jobs toward more highly skilled jobs.
One drawback for employees is that companies sometimes achieve the increase in average productivity by laying some of them off, per the Journal. And AI can take their jobs. But then, the US labor force is unlikely to grow much soon, with baby boomers retiring, the population rising slowly, and President-elect Trump promising to put major limits on immigration and deport immigrants working in the US. (More productivity stories.)
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