08-19-2016, 11:10 PM
There is evidence for a reduction in the volatility of labor productivity growth after 1982. This is what is sometimes referred to as the 'Great Moderation'. There is weaker evidence for a reduction in the mean of labor productivity growth. Even during the 1950s and 1960s there were many years when labor productivity growth was negative, sometimes by as much as 2% per year. In the post 1980 period there are fewer years with large positive increases in labor productivity, but also fewer years with large drops. Has productivity growth fallen permanently? The jury is still out.
Has Labor Productivity Growth Fallen Permanently? — Roger E. A. Farmer
Initial jobless claims fell more than expected. The claims, announced Thursday, came in at 262,000, below economists' expectations of a slight dip to 265,000. Claims have now been below 300,000 for 76 straight weeks — the longest streak since 1970. As Jefferies' chief financial economist, Ward McCarthy, noted, there have been only three times since 1980 when claims came in below 300,000 for a substantial period of time: September 1988 to February 1989 February 1999 to October 2000 January 2006 to April 2006
Initial jobless claims fall, continuing 76-week streak below 300,000 - Business Insider
Do you sit all day? If yes, you are damaging your body by doing nothing. Erica Fritz, a physical therapist and the manager of the Orthopedic Physical Therapy Center at Hospital for Special Surgery, says office workers should stand more and do these stretches in order to alleviate the pain from sitting all day.
How to stay in shape at a desk job - Business Insider
For while the U.S. has done reasonably well at recovering from the 2007-2009 financial crisis, longer-term economic growth is looking very disappointing. Some of this is just demography, as baby boomers retire and growth in the working-age population slows down. But there has also been a somewhat mysterious decline in labor force participation among prime-age adults and a sharp drop in productivity growth. The result, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is that the growth rate of potential G.D.P. — what the economy could produce at full employment — has declined from around 3.5 percent per year in the late 1990s to around 1.5 percent now. And some people I respect believe that trying to get that rate back up should be a big goal of policy.
Wisdom, Courage and the Economy - The New York Times
Ford Motor Co plans to offer a fully automated driverless vehicle for commercial ride-sharing in 2021, the automaker announced Tuesday, expanding its efforts in driverless cars and ride sharing - two areas where rivals have already made inroads. To help speed development of self-driving cars, Chief Executive Mark Fields said Ford is hiking investments in Silicon Valley technology firms, tripling its investment in semi-autonomous systems, and more than doubling the size of its Palo Alto research team while expanding its campus in Silicon Valley.
Ford plans self-driving car for ride share fleets in 2021 | Reuters