Increase in productivity equals less jobs Sabotage comes from the French word, "sabot," meaning a type of wooden shoe. Long ago, workers in Europe threw sabots into the gears to stop production because they thought machines were taking their jobs. Over the long haul, they were wrong. Machines made production cheaper, which increased demand, which created more jobs. But now it almost appears as though the saboteurs were onto something. At least Alan Greenspan thinks so. The chairman of the Federal Reserve says joblessness isn't decreasing, though the economy is improving, and he blames it on growing productivity. It takes only half as long to manufacture an automobile today as it did a generation ago, so if a carmaker, or any other manufacturer, is producing more with the same labor force, why hire more people? Maybe all is not lost. Greenspan himself thinks the rising growth in productivity isn't sustainable and the job market is sure to improve at some point. Still, there's a nagging suspicion that much of the recent increase in productivity was attained by eliminating jobs that weren't essential to begin with. Having learned they don't need them, businesses aren't likely to restore them. - George Rogers