CHART OF THE DAY: What's Behind U.S. Productivity's Worst Streak In 40 Years

10/11/16 07:38AM EDT

CHART OF THE DAY: What's Behind U.S. Productivity's Worst Streak In 40 Years  - 10.11.16 EL Chart

Productivity's Worst streak in four decades ... WHY?

Most mainstream economists don't have a good explanation. In recent testimony before Congress, Fed head Janet Yellen lamented that productivity growth has been "very, very low." She called it a "depressing finding." We don't disagree.

Here's our explanation: Jobs growth slows => Number of Hours Worked falling => Productivity slips => GPD dips

1. Jobs Growth 

Year-over-year nonfarm payroll growth has declined from its February 2015 peak of 2.3% down to 1.7% today


2. Aggregate Weekly Hours 

Private sector year-over-year has declined from its 2015 peak around 3.5% to 1.05% today

3. Productivity

See chart above. 40-year low. Not good.

4. GDP

U.S. economic growth has slowed from 3.3% (March 2015) to 1.2% reported in June 2016 

 

Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough lays out this cascading domino effect in greater detail in the 3-minute video below.

https://youtu.be/2UaNY_-72Xc

 Want more? For an in-depth discussion of the productivity slowdown, see Hedgeye Demography Sector Head Neil Howe's piece "The Great Productivity Slowdown.")

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