Productivity Surged in Final Quarter of 2001
Because trucking is sensitive to the economy, positive economic news of any kind is usually a signal that the demand for truck transportation will improve.
President Bush’s annual economic report to Congress, prepared by the Council on Economic Advisors, suggested that the underlying trend in the 1990s was actually better than official statistics reveal, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Indeed, the optimism expressed in the White House report may have played a role in scuttling the controversial stimulus package that Senate leaders said will be shelved. (Click here for a related story.)
The productivity increase in the third quarter was 1.1%.
Bloomberg said this was the first time that productivity has risen during the first three quarters of a recession since 1969-1970. For the entire year of 2001, it increased 1.8%, the slowest since 1995.
From 1996 to mid-1999, increases in productivity encouraged policy makers to allow the economy to grow at a pace of 4% or faster, leading to a surge in profits and worker salaries, Bloomberg said.
The productivity figures indicate the ability of businesses to eliminate jobs and reduce worker hours faster than they cut production, Bloomberg said.
However, Bloomberg noted that workers who remained employed are enjoying a rise in compensation that rose at a 2.8% annual rate during the final three months of last year.
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