General Overview
Chart 1 shows the 'human' contribu-tion to GDP growth.[4],[5],[6] This contribution has two driving characteristics:
The overall demographic make-up of the working U.S. population;
The productivity contribution at various stages in life by that working population (see Chart 5).
This productivity contribution is quantified through the changes in the population's human capital: the skills, capacities and know-how held by an individual.
Chart 2 depicts the reality of the slowdown in GDP growth, as given by Department of Commerce statistics.
Comparing Chart 1 to Chart 2 explains all of the growth slowdown of the last 40 years by tracking changes in the laboring population and its human capital `deposit.' The contribution of physical capital (physical plant and machinery contributing to production) to GDP growth is slightly more than 1 percent per year over the period in question