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U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

washingtonpost.com

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Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#51

Post by Kon-Peki »

notfromhere wrote: post #32
exabrial wrote: post #19

A couple of reasons I can see, just my opinion * My buddies in trade-based fields say they are working harder than ever, as their backlog has only increased in size * Less scrutiny when working from home, more fooling around, less work * Feeling that "grass is greener" elsewhere, therefore no longer being committed * Polling has shown that their ideal job for Gen-Z is being a CEO of a company, but few seem motivated…

Business formation surged since the pandemic, but Gen Z is going to have a hard time with it because they’ll be more broke than millennials

Only if they need a lot of capital.

Everything else about starting a business is far, far easier than ever. Almost every state in the US has streamlined the business formation process, made it cheaper and faster, etc.

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#52

Post by kennend3 »

the_only_law wrote: post #49
kennend3 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

antiwork started off good but quickly went downhill. I abandoned it some time ago because it is now a "pro-union eco-chamber". I once advocated serious changes to the labour laws are what is needed, and was inundated with "join a union" posts. It really speaks to just how out-of-touch these people are. Unions only care about large corporations because they can get a lot of members and union dues. The issue with this…

I just don’t get why you wouldn’t choose someone a little… brighter to represent you.

I did not take a position on unions one way or the other on my post there.

As i said, i just found it shocking that "join a union" was their only response.

Labour laws impact everyone, union contracts don't.

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#53

Post by [deleted] »

kennend3 wrote: post #52
the_only_law wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don’t get why you wouldn’t choose someone a little… brighter to represent you.

I did not take a position on unions one way or the other on my post there. As i said, i just found it shocking that "join a union" was their only response. Labour laws impact everyone, union contracts don't.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#54

Post by [deleted] »

kennend3 wrote: post #52
the_only_law wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don’t get why you wouldn’t choose someone a little… brighter to represent you.

I did not take a position on unions one way or the other on my post there. As i said, i just found it shocking that "join a union" was their only response. Labour laws impact everyone, union contracts don't.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#55

Post by bm3719 »

In addition to the other good reasons listed here: Inflation.

Most of us are now paid less in real terms for our efforts than we were 1-2 years ago. If you convert your labor to something invariant, like carrots, you just aren't given as many for a day of hard work. So, to the degree that we are rational beings and have agency on the matter, we scale our output accordingly.

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#56

Post by [deleted] »

fazfq wrote: post #5
kennend3 wrote: post #4

Perhaps people are at the point of revolt over the ever widening productivity vs pay gap? https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ Productivity kept on climbing and wages stagnated post ~1980 Time for the workers to reap some of that benefit.

It's supply and demand - the supply of workers has doubled the last decades while demand has remained roughly the same. I think it's a miracle that salaries are so high currently.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#57

Post by mark_l_watson »

FearlessNebula wrote: post #14

It’s the phones. Our attention spans and ability to focus have been destroyed by constant little hits of dopamine.

+1 I find watching TikTok or YouTube Shorts to be damaging to my concentration compared to what I consider (for myself) to be healthy activities like reading a book, watching or listening to an interesting interview or educational like philosophy, etc.

I try to fight back by only having TikTok installed on a Chromebook that I don’t often use and for YouTube Shorts, I count the number I have watched.

On my cellphone, if I want to waste time, I prefer a quick game of Chess.

I strongly recommend the https://freedom.to service as well as their podcasts.

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#58

Post by jimlongton »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #27

I'm pretty sure I know why... The working environment changed. Bit by bit I moved from an environment with gentleman's agreements and so on towards something in which everything was codified, safetyism became rampant, etc. In the UK over the past few years I went from going into a nice office in a number of beautiful old buildings, getting my stuff done with cameraderie, having lunch together and playing board games,…

> towards something in which everything was codified, safetyism became rampant

Those "gentleman's agreements" were not that great if you happened to be a woman, gay or any other minority. The upsides to HR, employment regulation and so on has been making the office a far better place to work for a lot of people.

While I agree that there are rampant problems in a lot of sectors, from low skilled to medical, there have been some wins. My team went fully remote for 2 years and now most people still work 3 days a week from home. We were able to build up a large and talented team during the lockdowns with most of my co-workers and those I manage 3 timezones away. We adopted more flexible working hours and we've never been happier. My manager can take time in the morning to get his kids to creche and I can take a longer lunch to check in on elderly relatives. I no longer spend 2 hours a day stuck in traffic. Our productivity has skyrocketed. We may be privileged tech workers, but the change in work styles has definitely boosted our company as a whole.

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#59

Post by D13Fd »

sylens wrote: post #6

Perhaps people have had to expend more energy just keeping their personal life together in the last few years. People with children have had to deal with the constant school closings, childcare facility closings, etc. and that has taken its toll. They may have family members who got Covid or had treatment for other ailments delayed by the pandemic's rush to treat Covid patients. They could've experienced a huge shift…

You're right about daycare/school closings. Even now, essentially post-covid, if our two-year-old gets COVID, that's a 10-day quarantine from daycare.

That's 10 days where one of the parents has to work from home and be horribly unproductive because they are watching a child at the same time. And you can get COVID repeatedly. It often from the daycare itself, but also from a sibling who is in school. Even with full, boosted vaccinations, they can still catch it. They don't get very sick, but they have to quarantine.

It's unsustainable.

I'm sure that's not the only cause, but it's definitely a factor.

Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why

#60

Post by D13Fd »

FearlessNebula wrote: post #14

It’s the phones. Our attention spans and ability to focus have been destroyed by constant little hits of dopamine.

It's not just the phones themselves, it's the modern social media apps (TikTok etc.). But I agree it seems to be twisting things up.

I think a closely related issue is how everyone, everywhere, all the time seems to be arguing about political ideologies, or making every issue about red vs. blue or liberal vs. conservative or racist vs. antiracist or whatever other way people want to split others up and then talk about it all day.

I get that it's an election year in the US and people have done this for a long time, but I swear it feels like it is reaching an absolute fever pitch these past years that is different than before.

Because it seems so all-consuming, I think it distracts people from work even more than in the past.

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