Heinz, you bring up many obvious points about productivity. Obvious to those of us watching this so-called "improvement".
On a micro-scale, I have seen in the past justifications for computer purchases based on a confabulated "ROI" wherein a gain in "productivity" for an engineer was constructed at 10%, at a salary of $80K, showing a purchase of at $1700 had a ROI of several hundred pct, etc etc. You get the picture! In fact, what happens is, the engineer who worked furiously at a task taking nine hours, now gets it done in eight, and can go home like a normal person and enjoy a little more of life. But this is merely a shift, and not a true gain! My point is, even with word processing etc, the gain in productivity is not turned to more tasks, but more breathers! Overall monthly output remains only fractionally improved.
The Economist ran an article showing the electrification of industry took 20 years to show true fruition. We have had true workplace gains with computers, but it has definitely leveled off in the 90's IMHO. |
