Today we learn at MSN’s MoneyCentral that productivity in the 2nd quarter rose at “the fastest rate in 6 years” at a robust 6.6% annual rate. On the surface, this sounds good.
Now, our company’s first name is Productivity, so I’d like to think we know something about the topic, and how to improve it. We know good business software is a key factor in productivity improvement — heck, everyone knows it.
But today’s news is of a bleaker sort. It’s about the other way to improve productivity.
The message here is that companies are producing more goods with fewer people. That means unemployment. Six million jobs have been cut since the start of the recession. That’s a big cut in the productivity equation’s denominator. Many have opined that it will be a good long while before the equation’s numerator — the amount of goods produced, which fell 1.5% in the same quarter — moves upward enough to correct the unemployment demise.
In such circumstances, today’s ‘good’ economic news on productivity is slim consolation to the aforementioned six million.
One of them was just in the news. Aaron Heideman of Oregon lost his job and, with about $300 in his pocket, decided to hit the road in his ’89 Dodge Van and interview other victims of the downturn. You can read his story here, also the source for this AP photo of him.
As the article says… “During Heideman’s stops, he unscrolls several feet of [a Tyvek paper] roll, lays it in front of the van with a couple of Sharpie markers, and encourages passers-by to pause for a minute and add their thoughts.”
Heideman’s road trip ends in Grand Rapids in a couple weeks, passing through Indiana along the way. There, he plans to wrap his Tyvek banner around the Grand Rapids Community Foundation Building and ask people to lay flowers around it as “a memorial to the recession.”
The twist is this: Heideman is calling it Art, and he’s hoping to snag a share of the $250,000 Grand Rapids ArtPrize. The winner is decided by voters attending the event. He says if he wins, he’ll share his winnings with some of the people who have helped him (with food, gas, cash) along the way.
One small step for the nation’s productivity. One giant leap for a man’s creativity.
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