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Productivity at this scale is literally just GDP / manhours worked. So it's more likely that unemployment from lockdowns -> cheap labour -> no incentive to aut

Productivity at this scale is literally just GDP / manhours worked. So it's more likely that unemployment from lockdowns -> cheap labour -> no incentive to automate or efficient use of manpower. That said, the US economy has been in a much stronger position than Europe so it seems there was the opposite of unemployment there. But I find it hard to believe that some companies pushing a return to the office would be reflected in the national figures at this scale.

disgruntledphd2 4y ago
Productivity is output per hour worked, yes. What happened at the start of Covid is that many of the jobs with bounded output (services, food etc) shutdown, leaving the white-collar work which is less bounded. Less hours worked but most of the money made implies that productivity would increase. The same thing happened in reverse in 2021. Not complicated, but for whatever reason this isn't obvious to people.