Don’t let the doomsday headlines (and GOP talking points) confuse you. The U.S. economy has “recovered” its way back almost to the pre-recession peak; GDP is above where it was at the start of 2007. What has not recovered: jobs. Well, if you’re in the 1%, you’re doing very well, thank you very much.
Productivity v Average Wages v Income of the Top 1% Since 1979
Changes in GDP v Changes in Employment Since 2007
In the past 20 years, the US economy has grown nearly 60 percent. This huge increase in productivity is partly due to automation, the internet, and other improvements in efficiency. But it’s also the result of Americans working harder—often without a big boost to their bottom lines. Oh, and meanwhile, corporate profits are up 20 percent.
And we’re working longer than our counterparts, but we (not corporate America) have less to show for it:
Just counting work that’s on the books (never mind those 11 p.m. emails), Americans now put in an average of 122 more hours per year than Brits, and 378 hours (nearly 10 weeks!) more than Germans. The differential isn’t solely accounted for by longer hours, of course—worldwide, almost everyone except us has, at least on paper, a right to weekends off, paid vacation time (PDF), and paid maternity leave. (The only other countries that don’t mandate paid time off for new moms are Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Samoa, and Swaziland. U-S…A?)
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In all the chatter about our “jobless recovery,” how often does someone explain the simple feat by which this is actually accomplished? US productivity increased twice as fast in 2009 as it had in 2008, and twice as fast again in 2010: workforce down, output up, and voilá! No wonder corporate profits are up 22 percent since 2007, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. To repeat: Up. Twenty-two. Percent.
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European companies face the same pressures that ours do—yet in Germany’s vigorous economy, for example, six weeks of vacation are de rigueur, weekend work is a last resort, and companies’ response to a downturn is not to fire everyone, but to institute Kurzarbeit—temporarily reducing hours and snapping back when things start looking up (PDF).
Additional reading:
Via Mother Jones
Sources: Productivity/income: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Congressional Budget Office (pdf), Economic Policy Institute, Census Bureau (Excel)
GDP/jobs: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; Stephen Gordon, Université Laval
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com