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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (503459)	12/4/2003 8:47:38 AM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 769670

New reports suggest an economy on the move Productivity growth hit a 20-year high, and U.S. companies' profits topped $1 trillion. By Bob Fernandez Inquirer Staff Writer The U.S. economy posted its fastest productivity gains in 20 years, and companies generated a record $1 trillion in profits in the third quarter, two signs that the nation's economy likely has entered a sustained recovery, economists said yesterday. Productivity, reported yesterday by the Labor Department, advanced by a blistering 9.4 percent in the July-to-September quarter, the fastest rate since 1983, during Ronald Reagan's first presidential term. Productivity is the amount an employee produces per hour of work. It is considered a broad measure of economic performance. Economists expect that the combination of high productivity and record profits will force companies to hire more workers - which eventually will bring down the unemployment rate - to take advantage of new opportunities and further expand profits. The third quarter was the first time U.S. corporations earned more than $1 trillion in profits, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The government and private organizations have released figures over the last several weeks that have painted an increasingly clear picture of an economy that is gaining strength after several years of weakness. The figures have shown souped-up growth in gross domestic product in the third quarter, three consecutive months of job gains, an upturn in the manufacturing sector, a strong housing market, improved consumer confidence, and, at least initially, healthy holiday sales. "It's symbolic," Mark Zandi, chief economist with Economy.com in West Chester, said of the productivity rate. "It goes to the heart of what is right in the economy. You cannot generate these productivity numbers without having a fundamentally strong economy... . The fragile economic recovery has evolved into a solid self-sustaining recovery." philly.com