Productivity During and Since the Pandemic

John Fernald (), Huiyu Li, Brigid C. Meisenbacher and Aren S. Yalcin

FRBSF Economic Letter, 2024, vol. 2024, issue 31, 6

Abstract: U.S. labor productivity initially surged in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the massive economic upheaval. As the economy recovered, the level of productivity retreated to its slow pre-pandemic trend. As of mid-2024, it remained close to but just above that trend. The surge and retreat in productivity follows the pre-pandemic cyclical relationship in which U.S. productivity rises temporarily in recessions. This example highlights the need to look through temporary cyclical effects when trying to infer longer-run trends.

Keywords: productivity; labor productivity; pandemic; covid19; economic recovery; recessions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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