So, what happens when the products people make get cheaper? I daresay filling station employees have declining productivity right now under that measure even if they pump more gas than a couple of years ago.
The people at Micron / Crucial are similarly less productive. I can buy a shiny new 4GiB RAM stick for $20, when two years ago it was $80. It's just as good, and that company is a good one. But still, their products have less cash content to them.
In a decade when energy cost/use patterns are in flux, are we mismeasuring productivity? In an age when human population is very high indeed, does it makes sense to use a productivity metric that encourages more-more-more?
I wonder if it makes sense to measure productivity using some longer-term measure? How many hours must a person work to gain an hour of artificial light at night? (There was a study about this a few years back, but I can't find it.) The advent of LED lamps and solar charging has caused this measure of productivity to soar, especially in developing cultures.