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Article: Productivity gains drive capital spending. (Industry Trend or Event)
- Article from:
- Electronic Business
- Article date:
- August 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There's at least one thing that economists seem able to agree on: The only way that companies are going to attain (or maintain) global competitiveness is to invest ever-greater sums of money into productivity-enhancing, efficiency-improving machines and equipment. It's true for car manufacturers, textile mills and chip makers.
Preliminary estimates released in early June by the Labor Department peg overall productivity growth in the United States last year at 1.8%, just a notch below the 2.0% gain recorded in 1996. This follows a 10-year period of annual productivity gains that averaged less than 1%. Last year's productivity surge was a major factor in keeping ...