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Trump inherits a sturdy economy

Nov 6, 2024
Higher tariffs and lower taxes are key to Trump's plan. The WSJ's Greg Ip weighs their potential effect on the economy Biden and the Fed built.
Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal emphasizes that we can't predict what the economy will look like under a second Trump administration.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Wage growth is outpacing inflation. High productivity is the key to sustaining that.

Oct 31, 2024
There's good reason to believe productivity will stay strong. When the labor market was tight, employers invested in upgrades.
U.S. workers have been more productive, and they've reaped a share of the economic gains.
The Washington Post/Getty Images

The soft job market has a silver lining: Productivity is up, and that helps the economy grow

Sep 26, 2024
We're making and doing more stuff in fewer hours.
Investment in advanced manufacturing is one reason productivity has increased in the U.S. Above, a fiber-optic manufacturing facility in North Carolina.
Travis Dove for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Productivity growth beats forecasts in second quarter

Aug 1, 2024
Real wages also grew. To some extent, productivity growth offsets the inflationary effect of pay gains.
Because productivity grew alongside wages, economists aren't concerned about a wage-price spiral.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Small businesses could see big gains by boosting productivity

And they can achieve that through better collaboration with companies big and small in their industries.
"Small businesses are, really, the backbone of the economy in so many ways," says McKinsey's Anu Madgavkar.
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U.S. productivity is up for the third quarter in a row. What does that mean?

Feb 1, 2024
Rising productivity makes possible rising living standards over time.
One way to think about productivity is the total amount of income the economy is generating per hour, says Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

How businesses can better prepare for climate change

Along with the obvious human case for looking out for employees, climate change poses a serious threat to productivity and retention.
Ralph Freso/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

For the first time in a year, worker productivity is up

Aug 10, 2023
That's a good thing for the economy and for business — and could be a good thing for workers themselves.
Increased productivity often comes from the introduction of new technology, like supermarket self checkouts.
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Workers are being more productive, a good sign for low-inflation growth

Aug 3, 2023
The Labor Department says worker output is up while average hours worked is down. That could help bring down inflation going forward.
Worker output climbed in the second quarter as economic growth picked up.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

Could artificial intelligence be your next coworker?

May 5, 2023
Workplace AI is coming, and one study of a Fortune 500 company found it can be a productivity boon.
A new study of call center workers at a Fortune 500 company found that AI integration boosted productivity, especially among less skilled and less experienced workers.
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