The latest from Okun and the Fed

Mary Daly and Bart Hobijn report from the Fed:

The final panel of Figure 2 points to the factor that turns out to be the main driver of the recent departure from Okun’s law—average labor productivity, measured as GDP per nonfarm hour worked. The deviation in average labor productivity relative to the GDP gap is far outside the range plotted over time and is consistent with the rapid productivity growth recorded in 2009. The surge in labor productivity allowed employers to keep output steady while shedding workers and reducing hours of work in the economy. As such, it allowed unemployment to rise much more than expected given the change in GDP, breaking the normal pattern between the two measures observed over the past 60 years.

Perhaps we suffer a positive technology shock which causes a Kling Recalculation as firms retain that part of the operation that utilizes the new technology? We would expect firms to react as 11% of their sales go on-line each year.