Recovery Continues - Employed are "Lucky" to Work Harder to Make Less

More good news. "More efficient," that means more work.

"Labor costs fell," means they paid you less.

"Exhaust their ability to squeeze more output out of depleted work forces." That's you - exhausted and depleted.

If you analyze this as carefully as I do, you know that this means you're working more now for less and you are...

"Lucky To Have A Job."

Our collective epitaph. So it is written, so let it be done.

The work force was more efficient last year with productivity rising at the fastest pace in eight years. Labor costs fell for a second straight year, something that hasn't happened in nearly five decades.

Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, rose a strong 3.6 percent in 2010 after a 3.5 percent gain in 2009, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Both years represented the best showing since 2002. Labor costs dropped 1.5 percent last year after a 1.6 percent decline in 2009.

But economists say the two-year surge in productivity is coming to an end as companies exhaust their ability to squeeze more output out of depleted work forces. They look for more hiring in 2011 which will help boost incomes.

[Associated Press]