right. so a low productivity US worker is no longer working for american express at their call center - and instead an Indian call center worker is. what happens to the productivity number? it goes up. it goes up no matter how you measure it - if you just take it for US workers, there is no longer a US person employed at that low productivity job (the job is still being done mind you) - so it goes up. If you include the foreign worker, well they are performing the same job for 1/3rd the wage, so again the productivity number rises.
There are only two ways to increase productivity - automation & lower wages. I will grant you that our economy is doing both, but don't discount the lower wages component as a big contributor to the "productivity miracle".
What we want more of is the automation part of this. But unfortunately, we have the migrant farm worker phenomena at work now at US tech companies. who would invest in automated lettuce picker machines when migrant farm workers are available for such low wages? who would invest in automated customer support centers when offshore workers who can do this are available at such low wages?
Please elaborate how lower wages contribute to output per worker.