First Time Since Carter Years, Productivity Drops for Third Consecutive Quarter

By Doug Brady, Conservatives 4 Palin

More hope and change in the Age of Obama, via the Wall Street Journal:

Jobless claims came in at 409,000, just a little higher than the 407,000 economists expected. The prior week’s claims were revised up, as they always are, to 421,000 from 417,000. This level of claims is really too high and indicates the job market isn’t healthy, even if it’s not quite on its deathbed.

Second quarter productivity was revised down to a decline of 0.7%, the biggest drop since the fourth quarter of 2008, from a first reading of -0.3%. It has fallen for three quarters in a row, for the first time since 1979.

Though neither of these indicators are good, the productivity number is particularly depressing.