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According to BLS data, the productivity of US manufacturing workers is stuck in park. Absent improvements in output per laborer, it is tough to improve living standards.
Great catch. For an analogue look to the UK's long term moribund productivity.
Over the last number of years our productive growth in oil and gas, finance, insurance has improved markedly. While RE, utilities and manufacturing have been stuck or slightly negative.
Further, productivity growth by state, in part because of business mix (say tech vs. tourism) varies greatly.
CA, TX, WA, CO and North Dakota have been significant leaders........LA, MS, IL, NM, WY have been significant laggards.
It's an interesting chart but I'd love to see an updated version. That chart is from 2016 which is now 8 years ago, and a lot has happened in that time.
I'm not aware of anything useful per all of this post covid. However, Pew ran a data study in '21 or '22 that corroberates the 2016 above data nicely.
The numbers facing hardcore poverty ($5.50 or less per day income) have been trending down most years for a long time. That number was higher in 1960 and 2015 than today FE.
Official poverty rates have been trending down for years as well.
Given all that there is little reason to believe many people have fallen out of the middle classes into the lower classes.
According to BLS data, the productivity of US manufacturing workers is stuck in park.
Absent improvements in output per laborer, it is tough to improve living standards.
Change the arithmetic. Reduce the number of laborers/ton. And executives too. WALMART is leading the way now. LINK
According to BLS data, the productivity of US manufacturing workers is stuck in park. Absent improvements in output per laborer, it is tough to improve living standards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRational
Change the arithmetic. Reduce the number of laborers/ton. And executives too. WALMART is leading the way now. LINK
Does Walmart engage in much manufacturing?
The UAW's recent contracts with GM, Stellantis & Ford protect laborer's jobs. They cannot be reduced or eliminated. That's a problem.
My understanding is a lot of this is in the recruiting organization. I think like other companies (Meta, Amazon, Google, etc.) they really staffed up their recruiting (a lot focused on tech) during Covid and many were remote. Hiring has settled down and there seems to be a shift to be more in-person, so it ended being an opportunity to reduce unnecessary headcount in that area.
Let's try it this way.
LOC is generally not a location with top jobs and top education systems. So you are suggesting to move back to Square One.
Sell house/break lease, take two kids out of school. Move. Get two jobs, have no social circle/family to fall back on for daycare or dog sitting, get two kids and two adults established again, pay deposits, get vehicles tagged, get DLs, school vaccinations/starter packages. Rinse and repeat when jobs/school systems fail?
This isn't everyone's situation.
But I will agree as a single person with no kids or dogs, it's still expensive to move.
I ended up moving in with family because the cost spread between a lot of (formerly) lower cost areas and high-cost areas has narrowed, (at least in the ones where I wanted to live). It made it not worth it to me to move to one of those areas until I can afford to live there without needing a job (aka "retire"), which will be another year for me, at a minimum.
I live in a small town in the south and our super Walmart has the freshest food and best prices besides Aldi. On the other hand, I was just in AZ a couple hours north of you in Prescott. I was in utter shock at the incredibly high grocery prices. My brother never paid attention and was surprised I said that. I pay attention to prices. He never does and eats out most meals. He truly believed that there was no inflation in food prices.
I can't speak to Prescott. I'm talkin' Chandler. I've probably got ten grocery stores, as in...not counting convenience or dollar stores, but Safeway, Fry's, Basha's, Walmart, Whole Foods, Sprouts, etc...in a five minute or less drive from my house. It is bonkers. Anyone remember the bit that Lewis Black did about a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks? Fry's (our Kroger) and Safeway are like that down here. You will have multiple of them just a few big blocks away from each other.
For what it's worth, I almost never eat out. Pretty much only if I am traveling. Otherwise, I work from home and I am a homebody who never goes anywhere or orders takeout or anything. Usually I ONLY eat groceries. Still about $250-280/month for me. But that's just me. My husband shops for his own food. We don't eat one another's food. He spends more, but he likes fancy sushi and salmon and his particular keto foods and whatever.
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