In 1995, for instance, real sales per employee rose 10% while non-farm productivity rose only 0.2%.
How to raise growth and benefit everyone could involve tax incentives for increased farm productivity or greater promotion of energy savings, or both.
U.S. economic data due for release Thursday includes the weekly jobless claims report, the Challenger jobs report, non-farm productivity and the ISM New York business report.
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On that point, several economic reports in the past week came in better than expected, including much higher non-farm payrolls and productivity, as well as a rise in the ISM non-manufacturing index.
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Since the 1930s agricultural innovation and a rise in non-farm employment have driven productivity up and the number of farms down.
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Do we bemoan the farm jobs lost or celebrate the productivity gains that they represent?
Over the period of 1919-29, productivity growth in the non-farm business sector was a more modest 2.3%.
This represents an enormous increase in productivity, output per hour worked on the farm.
Labour productivity continues to grow, with non-farm output per hour increasing by 1.1% at an annual rate in the second quarter.
This is not some slow, productivity-driven event like the 85 percent drop in farm jobs from 1900 to 2000, but a largely trade-driven impact.
To confuse matters more, the most popular productivity measure in America is output per hour in the non-farm business sector, which grew by an annual average of 2.5% over the past five years.
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