An interesting set of views and counter claims about productivity were found on Google:
- It leads to higher wages:
- It doesn’t
- It needs collective bargaining, but unions have mostly lost their influence
- It doesn’t result in fewer jobs:
- In an ideal world, it would lead to increased output, increased market share and even increased number of jobs
- It rarely works out that way
- Most improvements are justified by labour-saving which is much easier and faster than penetrating new markets
- It leads to better quality jobs:
- The opposite is true
- The staff that remain have to do the work of those laid off, and for the same pay
- It stifles competition:
- The UK, for instance, needs large capital expenditure to set up new productivity-competitive businesses
- China does not, able to use cheap labour instead
- It stifles innovation:
- Retooling production lines can be very expensive
- It freezes capital:
- Capital which could be used for vital infrastructure say
You might ask which side of the fence you’re on with each claim