A recent study found that America’s workers are now the world’s most productive. Each contributes, on average, more than $64,000 to the U.S. economy. This means that the average wage for an American worker is now $64,000 plus, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, most of the wealth these people create gravitates elsewhere. Which raises the question: Is being more productive really that good a thing for those doing the added producing?

America’s Workers
Become More Productive

Economists find,
Daily toil seductive.
They give it a name,
They call it ‘productive.’
They say that so great are the national stakes,
We must all labor harder, whatever it takes.

We’re told this approach makes all of us richer,
But on this key point, I really must differ.
What economists find so clearly convincing,
Gets me kind of nervous, in fact, has me wincing.

Productivity seen from under the hood,
Where the work’s really done, ain’t always that good.
Ask yourself what you get, working longer and harder,
A marketplace hero or marketplace martyr?

It’s balance we need here, not talking head blather,
To see what’s important, what things really matter.
Are world markets now with their fierce competition
Just sinister games of human attrition?

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