Has Janet Yellen seen the light on productivity growth?

America's productivity isn't what it used to be — and the head of the Federal Reserve might finally understand why

Janet Yellen may not see what others see in the economy.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

What happened to America's productivity boom?

In the mid-20th century, productivity growth — which basically means workers doing more with less — bounced around at 2 to 4 percent. It fell in the 1970s and '80s to under 2 percent, then jumped briefly back to the mid-century trend in the late '90s and early 2000s. Then it collapsed again with the Great Recession and has stayed at rock-bottom since. And economists don't really know why.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.