Free Republic

Today the BLS released Labor Productivity and Costs for 2023 Q1. Let's take a look. Labor Productivity Details Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours worked by all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers. Nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023 Output increased 0.2 percent and hours worked increased 3.0 percent. From the same quarter a year ago, nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased 0.9 percent, reflecting a 1.3-percent increase in output and a 2.3-percent increase in hours...

For federal employees, the most significant part of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that Congress unveiled this week may not be contained in the text of the legislation itself, but rather found in what’s not said. The 4,155-page bill, which House and Senate lawmakers released in the early morning hours of Dec. 20, doesn’t make any reference to the 4.6% across-the-board federal pay raise, in effect silently endorsing the Biden administration’s proposal for 2023. The bill additionally supports a 4.6% pay raise for military members in 2023.

Today, nearly two years after the storm, 11 of 14 properties on the block stand vacant, and in interviews, all but one of those who left indicated they have no intention of returning. Far from rising from the devastation of Katrina, this slice of St. Bernard Parish remains a desolate and depressing place. It is a scene repeated in flood-ravaged neighborhoods elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, especially parts of the Lower Ninth Ward, Gentilly and New Orleans East. In St. Bernard, most of the 67,000 residents have not returned. The massive desertions are evidence that Katrina's destructive effects are no...