WSJ: "Shedding workers" & "cutting back hours" = "sharp rise in Q1 productivity." USA! USA! USA!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

:eyes:

Productivity Was Revised Higher For 1st Quarter, as Labor Costs Slowed

By Brian Blackstone

WASHINGTON -- U.S. productivity rose sharply in the first quarter despite a weak economy, according to revised government data, suggesting companies have responded quickly to soft demand by shedding workers and cutting back on hours.

Meanwhile, activity in the U.S. nonmanufacturing sector grew more slowly in May.

Labor costs, meanwhile, grew at their slowest annual pace since 2004, which should provide some relief to Federal Reserve policymakers that soaring food and energy prices aren't leading to a wage-price spiral like they did in the 1970s and early 1980s.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121258256655144793.html?mod=fpa_whatsnews

[Beausoleil]

1. "Labor costs, meanwhile, grew at their slowest annual pace since 2004"

Yeah, thank god that wages are not keeping up with "soaring food and energy prices", that would be, you know, inflationary.

Those poor Fed policymakers have too much on their plate as it is, trying to figure out which greedy f*ckers to bail out next.

Who writes this shit? Oh, yeah "WSJ".

edit: speeling

[zbdent]

2. on an unrelated note ...

MLB has announced that the "Defense" in baseball will be relegated to a pitcher and a catcher. Production per athlete goes up. If the pitcher is excellent, the production goes up. However, this allows a lot more runs to be scored (which would be considered an error ...)

[Javaman]

3. AKA the corps say, "be thankful for your fucking jobs you prols!!

We are going to give you more work and less time to do it. and if you don't like it? you can join the rest of the losers we fired! now get back to work and stop reading this email, you are wasting time!"

[Hydra]

4. Spot on!

This, combined with the REAL unemployment numbers means that we are totally screwed as long as the fed keeps the stopper closed.

Mission Accomplished.

[Canuckistanian]

5. That implies that American workers are slackers

But in reality, it's a short-term gain, long-time pain thing when industry has to re-hire/re-train new workers during a boom time.

Unless you work at McDonalds or Walmart.