The government is reporting that the productivity of American workers has increased. Many of those workers feel they are paying the price and complain of working longer hours but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hours worked in a week has dropped by one percent as the economy has grown. One reason for this disparity may be because the government doesn?t actually measure individual productivity and as a result the figures reflect averages based on surveys of companies. Government workers are not included in the canvassing and the data is based on non supervisory workers only. As a result, estimates of productivity and inflation may not be accurate.
See "A New Productivity Paradox", Daniel Altman, CNN, October 11, 2004