jobs and employment	266
economics	208
state and local government	191
education	190
indiana	176
economic development	174
taxes	149
budget and spending	149
law and public policy	148
workforce and human capital	142

Commentaries tagged with productivity and efficiency

July 13, 2025	A Golden Age of Economic ColumnistsThe recent mayoral primaries in NYC provide plentiful material for discussion.
March 30, 2025	The Birth and Death of Rustbelt CitiesEducational attainment is the fundamental factor leading to city growth or decline.
March 9, 2025	A 1960s Rural Development PlanFarming and manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back, even as we hit new production records.
March 2, 2025	What Is Government Inefficiency?Different levels of government concern themselves with different problems.
February 9, 2025	The Medicaid DilemmaFor every one new job created in Indiana since 2010, we’ve had more than two new people enroll in Medicaid.
November 17, 2024	The Degrowth Movement Is Wrong and ImmoralDegrowthers are terribly mistaken in three big ways.
October 13, 2024	Worsening Brain DrainThe declining educational spending at state universities should be of big interest to elected officials in all the towns around public universities.
July 21, 2024	Why Don’t We Learn from Economic Development Failures?Educational attainment alone is now a more powerful predictor of a region’s economic success than everything else combined.
July 7, 2024	Freedom Is DifficultSimply living in the United States is as easy as it gets, and almost always has been.
June 9, 2024	Advice for Young People Heading Directly into the Labor MarketSkipping college does not mean you cannot have a satisfying career, but it will take more planning and work to get there.
May 19, 2024	The End of Noncompete ClausesBusinesses that have shielded themselves from competition through noncompete clauses will need to do better.
April 28, 2024	We Botched Our Last Curriculum Reform, We Cannot Do So This TimeA very good idea can become very bad public policy when executed poorly.
March 10, 2024	Are We in the Early Stages of a Long Economic Boom?Economists aren’t yet sure why labor productivity is growing, but I can offer two educated guesses.
February 11, 2024	Some More Truth About Manufacturing and TradeManufacturing employment peaked decades earlier than manufacturing production.
January 28, 2024	Do Record Levels of Capital Investment Benefit Citizens?Taxpayers may be appropriately skeptical about business relocation announcements.
December 24, 2023	Leaving Behind Dickensian PovertyThis Christmas holiday is not about worldly wealth, but it is a time of giving thanks for the many blessings we enjoy.
December 10, 2023	Manufacturing Matters, but Not for Creating JobsManufacturing is important because it is the source of a significant share of regional productivity growth.
November 19, 2023	Are We in a Period of New Union Activism?The bigger effect of unions appears to be how they influence labor markets outside the firms in which they’ve organized.
September 24, 2023	Don’t Expect the UAW to GrowThere is no evidence of a resurgence in the UAW or other industrial unions today.
September 10, 2023	China Is a Poor and Failing NationChina is getting in the way of its own economic growth.
August 20, 2023	Face the Fact: Factory Jobs Aren’t Coming BackFor every factory job Indiana lost since 1973, other industries created seven more jobs.
July 23, 2023	Populists Are Wrong—Life Is Better TodayMany problems arise when comparing the past to today.
April 16, 2023	What New AI Might Do to Labor MarketsThe human advantage lies in creative intelligence and social organization.
March 12, 2023	Remote Work and Labor MarketsThere are more remote workers today than there are immigrants in the U.S.
March 5, 2023	The Amish in IndianaIt is hard not to draw similarities between the Amish and newer immigrant groups.
January 22, 2023	Some Labor Market Facts You Won’t Read ElsewhereIndiana is simply not producing a 21st century workforce.
October 30, 2022	Remarkable Productivity Growth in Hospitality and TourismA more productive business requires—and hires—fewer workers.
July 17, 2022	My 750th ColumnColumns like mine are designed to help people think about issues they might otherwise not read about.
January 30, 2022	Chick-fil-A as a Tasty Window into InnovationThe effective mix of people and technology fueled a 16 percent growth in sales.
October 24, 2021	Deep Worries About Education and Employment Are Still With UsIndiana will start 2022 with three consecutive years of declining educational attainment of adults.
October 3, 2021	Automation and Today’s Labor Market ChallengesThe process of workers matching with employers is messy and slow.
August 22, 2021	How to Think About the Infrastructure BillInfrastructure spending reallocates jobs far more often than it creates them.
August 15, 2021	More Questions Than Answers About the Post-COVID WorkplaceWorkplaces vary widely in their degree of flexibility and productivity during the pandemic.
September 27, 2020	COVID May Amplify Factory Job TrendsFor manufacturing, production continues to grow and employment continues to decline.
May 10, 2020	Mother’s Day and Unmeasured EconomicsA disproportionate share of unmeasured work falls to women, particularly those who happen to have kids.
December 29, 2019	What Does Consumer Spending Do for Our Economy?Consumer spending is simply a measure of demand.
May 5, 2019	Data on Productivity Sends an Ominous Warning to Indiana’s EconomyThe slowdown in GDP growth since the Great Recession is a puzzle with many potential causes.
January 13, 2019	Factory Jobs Are Changing FastSummary: Productivity and education demands greatly affect factory employment.
July 8, 2018	Donnelly’s Automation Adjustment Act Should Be EnactedMost workers were not eligible for assistance because of job losses to automation, not trade.
December 24, 2017	Manufacturing in Growth and TransitionSince 2001, 60 percent of all manufacturing GDP growth has occurred in just 10 cities.
March 19, 2017	Taxing Robots Is NonsenseBill Gates is right to worry about tax systems, but he takes the wrong approach in solution.
February 19, 2017	Technology Related Job Losses of the Last CenturyTechnological changes led to a shift of 1.5 million jobs from one industry alone in Indiana.
October 2, 2016	Economic Changes Mean Primacy of Place MattersMaking cities good for workers is good for business.
August 21, 2016	The Importers Benefit from TradeUnbalanced trade activity points to an unbalance in efficiency.
May 8, 2016	The Great Hoosier Jobs Lie of 2016Productivity has lead to a growing manufacturing industry, but fewer, better-educated workers.
March 27, 2016	Technology Both Complements and Substitutes for LaborTechnology has replaced workers in routine, yet costly, occupations.
March 13, 2016	Manufacturing Production, Manufacturing Jobs and Snake-OilAmerican manufacturing production has been booming, while manufacturing employment has been in decline.
February 21, 2016	Some Surprising Lessons from CarrierIt would be wiser to invest in making people more productive.
October 11, 2010	The Drivers License Odyssey…previously licensed to drive an M1 Tank and various smaller tracked and wheeled vehicles. Obtaining an Indiana license, he thought, would be easy. It was not.
April 29, 2005	Indiana Standard Time "Indiana’s reluctance to change its practices and traditions to conform with national trends is a long-standing one."

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Commentaries tagged with productivity and efficiency