Since the gain in manufacturing productivity in the 1990s has been sharp, and the gain overall was much weaker, we can assume that service performance has been underwhelming - exactly the opposite of what you'd expect from all the computer hype. Still, despite the murkiness, it doesn't give any support to the ravings of Wired or Business Week . Some analysts claim that the bounce in the productivity stats over the last 2-3 years is evidence that the technology payoff is finally here. Economist Robert Gordon argues , however, that almost all of that bounce is accounted for by productivity growth in the computer industry itself, and that outside computers, productivity performance may have deteriorated in the 1990s. But if there is a productivity boom underway, then there's plenty of room for higher wages, much higher wages.
Real wage is the nominal wage divided by the consumer price index.
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