There are a couple emerging trends that would seem to be pushing against conventional wisdom but they may be a sign that we’re headed in a new direction.
The first is what happened in Greece this month. They passed legislation authorizing a six-day, 48-hour work week. This is not for all industries but is designed to spark economic growth in the nation that teetered on the brink of bankruptcy not that long ago. And, at the heart of the issue, is productivity.
The second signal along this line comes from China where the national government floated the idea of raising the retirement age. It did not get a warm reception but the underlying story is again about spurring economic growth in a downturn.
We should expect the issue of productivity to gain more attention here as Canada has not fared well on this metric, falling behind our trading partners, particularly the US, in embracing technological change.
Rather we chose to devalue our currency to improve our competitiveness but all that has done is fuel inflationary pressures as imports become more expensive
