> Productivity can be misleading. If low productivity producers drop out,
> that increases productivity without any improvement in existing operations.
> Also, productivity can increase by outsourcing some work -- say janitors in
> a factory. These outsourced workers can be pushed harder than unionized
> workers.
>
I don't get what you're arguing here. Are you arguing that productivity growth has actually been in long-term decline? If it has, then the economic statistics must really be worthless to be off by so much. And if the statistics are worthless then how do you know productivity's been in decline?
SA