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.
There are some things you need a shared workspace for. Most of what we do in the US, having converted largely to an email-and-spreadsheets-based economy, does not.
My full-flavor, everyday workspace requires a comfortable chair, decent internet, and intermittent access to elecricity. It fits in a backpack. All of my coworkers are similarly equipped. Our 40-person startup has a minuscule office that we couldn’t begin to fit everybody in. We are making lots of money.