Generating the Wealth of nations 16: Labor Productivity in Manufacturing in the US

The following chart shows an index of output per hour worked in US manufacturing from 1874 to 1930; the average annual growth of productivity over this period was 2.16%.  (Data from the Historical Statistics of the United States, Table Series D 683-688.  (This is somewhat slower than the post-World-War-II growth in labor productivity in manufacturing, which has averaged about 3.1% per year.)

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