Labor Leads

GDP growth is the result of increases in the labor force and improvements in labor productivity. Regrettably, the pool of new job entrants has been declining dramatically of late. The average annualized growth in the working age population went from 2% in the 70s, to 1% in the 80s, 90s, and 00s, to 0.4% last decade and is expected to grow just 0.2% in the 20s. Rising productivity is critical.