Saturday, November 13, 2010

Productivity in the Oil Industry

MJ Perry has a remarkable figure showing how labor productivity changed during the recession. It's a nice example because output is measured in physical units -- barrels.



Before the recession, each employee produced about 800 barrels. After the recession, each produced about 1100 barrels.

Added: A problem with this example is that it is difficult to separate employees who help produce oil from those who invest in future oil production, which may be reacting to time pattern of oil prices rather than the forces that caused the recession (HT: James Donald).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is a big problem with this example: Oil companies do not hire people to produce oil today. They hire them to produce oil some years in the future.

Yasir said...

on hiring can be good or bad, depending on the work concentration of the products. bubblegum casting

JOJO said...

I also see parallels in B. Anderson's "Economic and the Public Welfare" Chapter 31 and M. Rothard's "America's Great Depression" chapters 9 and 10. But as a laymen, I could be wrong. you can look here

JOJO said...

Service Round Table — especially SNAP (Service Nation Alliance, Plumbing). If I had not listened to some really great industry experts — even some we love to hate — I would be in a position of losing everything I've ever worked for because of this accident. address