The American worker is on a productivity tear and it may have more to do with a surge in working from home than the effects of AI, according to a Stanford economist.
For the past five years, the output for non-farm businesses has increased by a sizable 2% per year, The Economist reported citing statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is a marked increase from the 1% productivity growth per year that defined most of the 2010s, and a trend that has taken even Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell by surprise.
Yet, while the hype around AI over the past several years makes it a logical candidate for the main driver behind the productivity boom, Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economics professor who is known for explaining the Great Resignation of the early 2020s, says it’s more likely work-from-home policies since the pandemic are fueling the trend.
How is productivity of an “office worker” measured? I imagine it’s somehow deducted from the value of whatever their company produces and sells, but if that is grossly overvalued, there is no productivity gain.
They are still measuring like the industrial ages. How many teapots did they make. The information age changed things and we stopped making widgets with our hands and started using our brains for creative/innovation/digital services.
Same as a remote worker - work output