Drunker, Messier Masses

As more and more states make it illegal to smoke in your local bar, it is apparently not having much of an effect on sales in bars.  In 2009, drinking places were the sites of the largest increase in labor productivity (output per hour).  At a bar, this productivity means workers pouring more drinks.

Apparently, as unemployment swept across the country, people were still willing to spend their money and time at their local bar.  As Oscar Wilde once said, “Work is the curse of the drinking classes.”  As the job market did little to inspire confidence, sales at drinking places went up 3.8 percent.

But on the walk to the bar, things might have looked a little more unkempt.  People were less likely to spend much money on getting their hair cut and their nails manicured.  The amount building managers were willing to invest in janitorial services crashed.

Mining was another industry that saw big changes.  From 2008 to 2009, output per hour increased in 21 of the 47 detailed service-providing industries and in 2 of the 5 detailed mining industries studied.  Although productivity changes varied widely among the service-providing and mining industries, almost all of the increases in productivity involved declines in hours.  Productivity rose in the overall mining sector and in the oil and gas extraction and metal ore mining industries in 2009, but declined in coal mining, in nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying, and in support activities for mining. Hours fell in all of the mining industries.