``labor costs for each unit of output soared by 6.6 percent, far higher than the 1.7 percent increase initially reported. The combination of lower productivity and higher wages..''
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Here's the double talk. Labor costs are not the same as wages, just ask any employer. I get about 2/3's in wages of what I cost. So the money leak is somewhere before I ever see a penny. I would suspect healthcare benefits, the processing costs of employing me and other bullshit.
And productivity is also an double-talk concept. It has next to nothing to do with how fast, hard, and efficiently I work. For example, labor charges on bills to MediCal and Medicare have a much lower profit built in, than the discounts and mark-ups for equipment and parts. So selling equipment is much more `productive' than fixing chairs.
CG