24 Jan 2026 4:07 pm
It's not th3 "new normal." It's always been that way. Higher productivity or productivity optimization streamlines business operations, intensifies competition, lowers costs, and eventually leads to structural unemployment.Fuelman » 23 Jan 2026, 9:36 am » wrote: ↑ An increase in productivity results in doing more with less employees. Wasn't that in Econ 101?I wouldn't know as I didn't take the class or go to college.
It's the new normal.
U.S. labor productivity (nonfarm business sector) has shown a strong, recent surge, growing at an annualized rate of 4.9% in Q3 2025, with a 2.4% increase in the second quarter of 2025. For the current business cycle since late 2019, productivity has increased at a 1.8% annual rate, which is higher than the previous 2007–2019 cycle (1.5%).
Most retarded conjobs do not understand the difference between cylical and structural.
Right wing economic "experts" (or just grifters in general, like the "economists" who go on Fox News) lie by telling you otherwise. Jobs have always been seen by capital as a necessary "evil" (expense) to secure marketplace dominance.
In reality the vast majority of labor is similar to a commodity input....and given the number of willing beggars in 3rd world countries who will gladly work for $60K/yr (poverty salary) the downward pressure on wages is endless.
Now back to economic history that no conjob in this thread will ever clarify b/c they are too retarded to understand or think at this "level:"
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The main difference is that 150 years ago, we had frontier markets (Westward USA expansion, the first wave of imperialism opening up markets in the Caribbean, East Asia, and North Africa, the invention of the first prototypes of the automobile and aircraft, the microwave, etc.) to absorb all the labor displaced by the mechanization of agriculture and textile production.
We no longer have that spare capacity which means labor mostly sits idle or waits for our benevolent corporate overlords to throw them some scraps in the form of "6 figure jobs" that still suck compared to jobs that existed back in 1954 (mainly due to false, understated, and deceptive accounting of inflation statistics) - and that's IF they are "lucky."
If they are unlucky they will drive for Uber or Doordash and lose money on vehicle wear and tear.
(I once talked with an old Boomer lady who said she made almost $20/hr doing typewriting work in the 70s, which is like $180K/yr today. Your typical Excel "expert" - office drone - made $65K/yr in 2025.)
@Cannonpointer