Comment by kaashif | Hacker News Reader

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Comment by kaashif | Hacker News Reader

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Being able to efficiently allocate labor with a more mobile workforce does increase productivity, this is well studied.

Here's a source, although it isn't that detailed and is more of a descriptive literature review: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/103581...

This too: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2025/07/oecd-employment... - but I didn't have time to read it in detail.

I don't think anyone believes labor mobility reduces productivity.

That not what the paper says. They're saying that good quality jobs can lead to higher productivity. That's something discovered by Ford way back in the early 20th century when he stepped from the typical 60+ hours of the week down to our now normal 40 hour work week and saw productivity/worker increase at each step down.

For my little hypothesis to be incorrect you'd need to demonstrate that a company with less experienced workers (in terms of years worked at that specific company) is more productive than with more experienced workers. I think that's very improbable.

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