With sluggish productivity growth around 1.4% despite watershed advancements in technology and innovation, increasing growth—and median household incomes—may hinge on a simple equation. “I have my number of workers and my output per worker,” explained Kweilin Ellingrud, a director of the McKinsey Global Institute. "Either change the number of workers, which is hard due to aging, or I invest in technology and AI, and change the equation of my output per worker.”
More tech, wisely implemented, might be the only solution to regaining a higher productivity growth rate, said Ellingrud, who spoke during a panel on McKinsey's Media Day in New York on Thursday. Accordingly, it’s long past time to take AI seriously, regardless of industry, she said.
