Question

Normally you will see US Labor Productivity Increasing at an annual rate of around 6%. In reading the book you should see that it must continue to increase for our country to continue to have the standard of living that we do. What seemed odd to me was that in the 3rd Quarter of 2009, while our country is in the midst of a very deep recession, this number went to 14.8%. In the 4th Quarter it dropped to 6.4% and in the 1st Quarter of this year it was at 2.5%. Why the Big Spike in the 3rd Quarter of 2009

Answer 1

Answer: c)  Employees are fearful of losing their jobs, so they are working harder and complaining less.

Explanation:

Research has shown that during periods of recession, people tend to work harder than they do before the recession which has the effect of boosting productivity levels during that period.

The simply reason for this is, fear. In a recession, businesses come under a lot of pressure to reduce their workforce in order to save costs which leads to a rise in unemployment. Workers that are laid off are usually the unproductive ones so workers begin to put in more work during this time so that they do not get laid off.