Ahead of the Tape
Cooling Productivity Is the Heat Under Jobs</br></br>U.S. workers are getting less productive. Right now, that actually may be good news for the labor market.</br></br>Not that this will be immediately apparent from Friday's employment report. And it may be easy to overlook this release, coming at the end of a week dominated by midterm elections and the Federal Reserve's latest bout of bond buying.</br></br>But the employment figures are as crucial as ever: Given that unemployment barely has budged this year, upping the pace of job creation is precisely what events this week were about.</br></br>Friday's report is expected to show unemployment holding steady for the third month in a row at 9.6% in October. Still, the report's details may offer encouragement.