• Taking the data at face value, we find that GDP growth in the 4 quarters up
to 2Q2012 has slowed down to 1.2%, while employment growth during the same
period reached 1.9%, developments that suggest productivity coming down by 0.7%;
• That said, there are
indications that labor productivity is procyclical, i.e., it tends to rise when
the economy recovers and contracts as growth slows down. In light of this, we
attempt to estimate how fast productivity should grow once the economy
accelerates back, following the massive fiscal, monetary...