American Workers Are the Economy’s True Unsung Heroes
Surging labor productivity is helping to offset stiff headwinds such as elevated inflation, rising interest rates and credit-card debt.
US workers have become very productive.
Photographer: David McNew/Getty Images
The US economy just enjoyed its strongest quarterly growth outside of the pandemic era since 2014, expanding at a 4.9% annualized rate in the three months ended Sept. 30. The economy’s resilience has continually frustrated the gloom and doomers, who have been predicting an imminent recession for more than a year now.
Still, even the optimists are bound to wonder how much longer a downturn can be avoided at a time of elevated consumer prices, benchmark interest rates at their highest level in a generation and soaring credit-card debt. The answer just might be longer — much longer.