Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Explaining America’s productivity downturn

Kai Ryssdal May 2, 2016
HTML EMBED:
COPY
A Dodge Viper goes through assembly at thein Detroit. The plant makes three Vipers per day. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Explaining America’s productivity downturn

Kai Ryssdal May 2, 2016
A Dodge Viper goes through assembly at thein Detroit. The plant makes three Vipers per day. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

What happens when productivity hits a wall? Well growth slows for one. And we saw that with the gross domestic product numbers that came out just last week

GDP growth slowed to 0.5 percent and at least some of that has to do with a similar slowdown in productivity growth.

Neil Irwin is a senior economics correspondent at the New York Times, and he wrote a piece looking at what might be going on with America’s declining productivity. Irwin spoke with Kai Ryssdal.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.