To introduce The Guardian to a little economics

The Guardian has been telling us for a couple of decades now that Britain really must get out of this low wage, low productivity, employment and production system that we have. They might even be right for as Paul Krugman has pointed out productivity isn’t everything but in the long run it’s almost everything.

It is necessary - OK, desirable then - that the paper also know how the economic thigh bone is linked to the economic hip bone. What they desire is happening right now and they’re complaining about it:

Firms cut jobs amid recovery worries

UK service sector companies cut jobs at a sharper pace in July, because they are worried that the Covid-19 recovery will be slow.

So says Duncan Brock, Group Director at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply. He warns that there are still serious ‘underlying problems’ in the economy, even though activity grew last month.

From the source, the PMIs:

UK service providers reported a strong increase in business activity during July, with the rate of growth the sharpest recorded for five years. New orders also rebounded during the latest survey period, reflecting an improvement in corporate and household spending. Growth was mainly linked to the phased reopening of business operations across the UK economy. Employment was a weak point in July, with staffing numbers falling at a steep and accelerated pace ...

That is rising productivity. We need to use less labour to produce the same amount. Or less labour to produce more in this case. That’s the very definition of the rising productivity which it is said we should desire and work towards.

There is that necessary connection - rising productivity means fewer jobs in what we do now.