Catherwood LibraryILR School

According to data released yesterday by the Labor Department, gains in productivity jumped up to an impressive four percent for July, August and September, despite continuing high unemployment as indicated by the number of new applicants for unemployment insurance and the total number of workers receiving unemployment. While these figures indicate that in the long term the U.S. economy has a good chance of making a full recovery from last year’s downturn, they also lend strong support to the growing feeling among American workers that this is a jobless recovery, and suggest that employers will not feel a need to dramatically increase hiring anytime soon. The productivity gains are largely the result of layoffs and reductions of employees’ hours (see WIT for Nov. 8, 2001), coupled with cuts in paid vacations and personal days (see WIT for Oct. 29, 2002), and forcing employees---whether legally or illegally---to work longer hours without compensation (see WIT for July 1, 2002).