Increased Worker Productivity May Pose Challenge to Unemployed

Associated Press (11/6, Crutsinger, Manning) – "Companies across the economy are finding ways to do more with fewer workers, dimming hopes that hiring will take off anytime soon." Employers "became leaner and more efficient in the third quarter. Wages, meantime, remain flat or falling. The result is that productivity...jumped at the fastest pace in six years." The good news for companies "may be bad news for the jobless." As long as companies "can get their workers to produce more, they have little reason to hire." Still, some economists "were encouraged by the productivity report." They say that "eventually, employers won't be able to squeeze more from their staffs. They will then have to ramp up hiring - something that could happen next year, even though the jobless rate is expected to hit double digits." Productivity "rose at an annual rate of 9.5 percent in the July-September quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday." Hat Tip: NAM