The average productivity of US workers, as measured by the hour, is steadily improving, the Labor Department reports. The increase in the third quarter was 2%, the data show, over the same period a year earlier—the fifth straight quarter with a gain of at least that much. That matters because the faster productivity grows, the faster the economy can grow.
And productivity has been key to the nation's economic growth relative to other nations' economies, the reports. But it's a mixed bag for the workers themselves. Several factors could be contributing to the improvement: One drawback for employees is that companies sometimes achieve the increase in average productivity by laying some of them off, per the .
And AI can take their jobs. But then, the US labor force is unlikely to grow much soon, with baby boomers retiring, the population rising slowly, and President-elect Trump promising to put major limits on immigration and deport immigrants working in the US. (More stories.
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