Labor productivity is a measure of a nation’s economic performance. It can be expressed by comparing output (the amount of goods and services produced by the nation), to input (the number of labor hours used to produce those goods and services). Growth occurs when output increases faster than input, and is measured as the difference between the two. For example, if output is measured as growing at 5 percent during a given business cycle, and input grew at 2 percent over that same time period, then overall labor productivity growth is said to be 3 percent. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, labor productivity fell by .2 percent in 2016. This was the first negative growth since the Great Recession of 2007-2008. While more recent numbers have shown short-term increases in labor productivity since then, the overall trend for the current business cycle indicates that the U.S. is in historically low growth as compared to every cycle since the end of World War II.
Why is Labor Productivity Flatlining?
While everyone agrees that labor productivity is historically low, no one can agree as to the root causes. You know the old joke: If you ask 10 economists a question, you’ll get 12 different answers. One theory is that our methods of measuring productivity are outdated, but measurement errors can’t in and of themselves account for the drops. Another school of thought posits that the downward trend is indicative of a slowdown in innovation rather than one in productivity, where today’s inventions lack the far-reaching effects of the industrial revolution and early 20th century electrification of the U.S. Opponents of this view point out that those effects are measured with the benefit of hindsight, and that modern innovations such as the internet are still evolving. A correlating factor, these opponents claim, is that businesses have been too slow to adopt these new technologies, which has hurt growth. This claim dovetails into a root cause that researchers at the Brookings Institution believe could account for almost half of the drop in productivity all on its own: businesses are not investing in their own productivity.
When companies invest earnings back into the business—developing or purchasing better equipment, providing training and higher compensation to their labor force, adopting more efficient technology—it has a direct positive influence on net productivity growth. In the past decade, the domestic investment in GDP by U.S. businesses fell to the lowest point in over 60 years. A report released at the end of 2016 documented that the Fortune 500 companies were collectively holding $2.6 trillion in offshore accounts. Additionally, even as output has risen, wage growth for the middle and lower classes has stagnated. Having less money to spend means smaller revenue streams all around, which means less output and less investment, which contributes to the downward spiral.
Infrastructure And Personnel
Investing in your business is the key to boosting productivity. It really comes down to two areas: infrastructure and personnel.
Infrastructure, in this context, means tangible items that benefit your company. Things such as more efficient machinery and technologies, better logistics plans, or a more robust IT network are all infrastructure. Keep your business software up to date, embrace new practices such as distributed ledger systems, which keep all parties on the same page in collaborative projects, even getting better chairs for everyone can give you a bump in productivity. The more streamlined you can make your front end, the fewer mistakes and delays you’ll experience as projects advance.
You must also invest in your people. Develop your existing staff with specialized training, and retain them with good benefits and remuneration. Over the long term, as your productivity (and profit) increases, you will attract more employees, allowing you to branch out into other areas of production or take on bigger projects. You can also jumpstart your productivity boost by utilizing outsourcing companies that specialize in your field. For example, Indovance, Inc., in Apex, NC, provides expert CAD services for Building Information Management, architecture, civil and mechanical engineering, sign design, and pre-press services. Their “Twin Engagement Model” gives their clients immediate access to a highly-trained talent pool that’s ready to work on large projects. Their work can be rapidly scaled to meet changing demands without sacrificing efficiency or quality, and they quickly take on any company’s business goals and culture to be a true partner and extension of the team. This is a great solution for business owners who want to boost their company’s productivity quickly, but don’t yet have an in-house team in place.
The synergy of investment
Positive labor productivity growth improves the standard of living for everyone. When a company (or industry, or nation) invests in itself to become more efficient, it can produce the same—or even more—goods and services with fewer labor hours, leading to larger capital gains and higher wages. More income combined with increased leisure time leads to more private sector spending and public sector revenue. This is not a zero-sum game, where a gain in one area automatically means a loss in another; this is a symbiosis, where thoughtful investment to increase productivity on a local level has a net growth effect that goes well beyond the boardroom walls.
