Thank You, Marc

Last Update: 06-Nov-09 12:33 ET

10-Yr: +01/32..3.520%.. USD/JPY: 89.8400.. EUR/USD: 1.4850Thank You, Marc: BBH's Chandler - Sometimes the rise in productivity can be achieved by boosting the amount of capital investment per employee. This would be a favorable and sustainable rise in productivity. In contrast the current rise in productivity is happening as business cut costs, especially, labor costs. Higher productivity translates into lower unit labor costs. They fell 5.2% at an annualized rate in Q3. Over the past four quarters, unit labor costs have declined by 3.6%, the largest four-quarter drop since the time series began in 1948.There are several implications of this for the economy, [and] policy...strong gains in productivity and falling unit labor costs is part of the reason the Fed feels confident that price pressures remain subdued and that rates can remain low for "an extended period.". Second, these gains in productivity coming from cost cutting are not sustainable in the long-term. It is in some ways like the inventory cycle.
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