Productivity boomed in 3Q
Government's measure of output per worker hour revised to fastest pace in 20 years.
Nonfarm business productivity, or worker output per hour, rose at an upwardly revised 9.4 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the strongest surge since the second quarter of 1983, the Labor Department said.
http://money.cnn.com/2003/12/03/news/economy/productivity.reut/index.htm
Personally I'm very hesitant to look at these rising productivity #'s and believe they are sustainable. Productivity went up in the 90's because of the boom in information technology. Americans were able to work smarter.
Over the last few years though, companies have reduced IT spending and many American workers have been running scared for their jobs. Personally I've seen people pretty much doing anything they can to retain their jobs. While this is good for business in the short term, human beings burn out.
Hopefully the economy is turning around but I'm hesitant. After 3 years of poor economic conditions I'm not ready to declare this better. My gut feeling is the money is flowing again but that it is really staying at the top.
