Financial Times (October 3)
“Not only does poor sleep dent productivity, it also causes impulsivity and poor decision-making, according to sleep researchers. Sleep deprivation has been indicated as a cause in 7.8 per cent of all the US Air Force’s Class A accidents, defined as costing $1m or more). Sleep-deprived US workers cost their employers $63bn in lost productivity, according to a 2011 Harvard Medical School study.”
Tags: Accidents, Decision-making, Employers, Harvard, Productivity, Researchers, Sleep deprivation, U.S., Workers
The Economist (July 6)
“Good economic news has begun to fall on Britain like drops of rain in the midst of a drought. The country is parched: revisions to GDP estimates released last week suggest that output is still 3.9% lower than its 2008 peak, a worse performance than any other G20 country except Italy. As confidence returns, it seems almost impolite to point out that the British economy still has a sickly core of weak investment, productivity and wages, and that hard policy decisions lie ahead.”
Tags: Confidence, Economy, G20, GDP, Investment, Italy, Output, Productivity, UK, Wages
New York Times (June 10)
“Those who see Japan’s performance over the last decades as an unmitigated failure have too narrow a conception of economic success. Along many dimensions—greater income equality, longer life expectancy, lower unemployment, greater investments in children’s education and health, and even greater productivity relative to the size of the labor force—Japan has done better than the United States. It may have quite a lot to teach us. If Abenomics is even half as successful as its advocates hope, it will have still more to teach us.”
Tags: Abenomics, Children, Economic success, Income equality, Investment, Japan, Labor force, Life expectancy, Productivity, U.S., Unemployment
Financial Times (February 23)
French leaders “should listen when international business leaders say how their French operations must change to be competitive. Ministers should share with multinationals a common interest in achieving that outcome. Otherwise, the workers will not be alone in facing accusations of being unproductive.”
New York Times (February 18)
“A higher minimum wage would be good for workers and for the economy.” The old job-killing myth “has been debunked… a higher minimum wage boosts pay without measurably reducing employment, while improving productivity. One study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that a $1 increase in the minimum wage results, on average, in $2,800 in new spending by affected households in the following year, in large part because the increase helps workers accumulate down payments to buy cars. Owning a car, in turn, helps workers to keep their jobs.”
Tags: Economy, Employment, Federal Reserve, Minimum wage, Productivity, Workers
Wall Street Journal (April 8)
As a group, S&P companies have gained efficiency while rebounding to pre-recession levels. “S&P 500 companies have become more efficient—and more productive. In 2007, the companies generated an average of $378,000 in revenue for every employee on their payrolls. Last year, that figure rose to $420,000.” These same companies have also increased capital expenditures, reduced debt and increased cash on hand.
As a group, S&P companies have gained efficiency while rebounding to pre-recession levels. “S&P 500 companies have become more efficient—and more productive. In 2007, the companies generated an average of $378,000 in revenue for every employee on their payrolls. Last year, that figure rose to $420,000.” These same companies have also increased capital expenditures, reduced debt and increased cash on hand.
Tags: CAPEX, Cash, Debt, Efficiency, Productivity, Recession, S&P
The Los Angeles Times (August 14)
Americans need to take a break. “Each year we work more and enjoy fewer vacation days than most other industrialized nations. The U.S. is one of a few countries that do not provide a mandatory minimum vacation leave by law. This is unfortunate because “vacations are pro-family, promote good health and increase worker productivity. The U.S. needs to relax more.”
Americans need to take a break. “Each year we work more and enjoy fewer vacation days than most other industrialized nations. The U.S. is one of a few countries that do not provide a mandatory minimum vacation leave by law. This is unfortunate because “vacations are pro-family, promote good health and increase worker productivity. The U.S. needs to relax more.”
Tags: Industrialized nations, Productivity, U.S., Vacation
Financial Times (June 11)
The rumbling in the world’s “assembly plant” is healthy. Striking Chinese workers are merely doing what has been done in “every successful east Asian country.” Rising wages are “a natural consequence of the country’s development and of the operation of labour markets.“ Both worker skill and productivity have increased throughout China, making it “entirely natural for pay… to rise to reflect those returns.”
Tags: China, Productivity, Strikes, Wages
