MGT 101: Productivity with Excel, Fall 2023, Dr. Duggan
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡
Recall that labor productivity is 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡.
In the following exercise, I provide you with the GDP of the United States for 2010 to 2021, and
also with the hours worked by people in the US between 2010 and 2021. I ask you to put these
into Excel, and then to a) calculate how much in dollars the average American worker produces
in an hour, and b) to graph the result.
Step 1. Understanding the data. Nominal GDP is the value of all the final goods and services
produced in the US in a year. First, the goods have to be final, so for example we count the
value of a car, but we don’t count the value of the tires separately, since they are included in the
car, which is the final good. We don’t care if the people are US citizens or not, they just have to
be standing in the US when they work. Got that?
Step 1. Inputting the data.
There’s an easy way and a hard way. Try the easy way first, and if it doesn’t work, go to the hard
way. Easy way: Open excel on your computer. On this sheet below, block out the entire table. I
do this by positioning my cursor in the block spot next to “nominal GDP” and then I hold down
the left mouse button, and while I have it held down, I use the arrow keys to block the area to the
left and then scroll with the down arrow key to the bottom. You can also hover over this page on
the right top of the table until a little button appears, and click on the button once to select the
table. Either way, then hit “control c” to copy, and go to the Excel spreadsheet. People with
MACS may find that “command c” is the correct command for copy.
Nominal GDP
Hours Worked
2010 15,048,970,000,000
222,053,000,000
2011 15,599,731,750,000
226,014,000,000
2012 16,253,970,000,000
230,328,000,000
2013 16,843,195,750,000
233,870,000,000
2014 17,550,687,750,000
238,609,000,000
2015 18,206,023,500,000
243,112,000,000
2016 18,695,105,750,000
246,571,000,000
2017 19,477,336,500,000
250,050,000,000
2018 20,533,057,500,000
254,580,000,000
2019 21,380,976,000,000
257,691,000,000
2020 21,060,474,250,000
244,348,000,000
2021 23,315,081,250,000
253,879,000,000
Go to your open Excel spreadsheet, and in the top right corner click once on the first cell. Then
type “control v” for paste, and the data should transfer. If you have a MAC, then try “Command
V.”
Hard way: If you are unable to copy from this page, then you should simply input the dat
yourself. It’s only 22 entries. I’ve input a lot more in my lifetime, and sometimes by inputting
the data, I actually get to know the numbers a little better, which is not all bad. Do not input the
commas as you type, just the numbers. Open excel, and copy the table by hand into the top of
page of spreadsheet.
Troubleshooting:
1. ##### If your data shows up, but it looks like number signs #######, this means your
column is not wide enough for the very large number that is US GDP. The solution is to
go to the dark bar at the top of the table, and seek the tiny link between B and C, and
hover over this line until it turns into a black cross, at which point, double click. The
column B should spread out to the size you need to see all your numbers. Do the same
for the line between C and D.
2. “Oops, I clicked twice, and now it won’t work.” Solution: hit escape key and try again.
Step 2. Formatting the data
The GDP data is in dollar value, i.e., we have the total dollar value of stuff produced in the USA
in each of the years. The hours worked data is not dollars, it’s in hours, which is just a number.
Got that?
On to formatting. Click once and hold that click on the cell B2 which has your first GDP
number in it. Use the down arrow key to scroll to the bottom number in cell B13. You have the
entire column blocked, now lift both hands off and it should stay blocked out. Now go to menu
at the top of the screen in grey, and click on the $ sign. The data should now have the $ sign
next to it. It probably added two decimal places for cents, but we don’t need that, so also go to
the furthest arrow sign next to the $ sign and click twice to remove the two decimal places.
Alternate method to format row B: while you have the column of numbers blocked out, left click
and you should see a menu pop up, pick format cells, make sure the number tab is selected, click
currency, and choose 0 decimal places.
Step 3. Write a Formula
The power of Excel is to make formulas, and then to apply them to lots of numbers at once.
Go to cell D2 and type + then click once on cell B2 and the type / which is the symbol for
divisision and then click once on cell C2. Hit enter. If you did this correctly, then you should
see the number “$67.77” appear. If you get stuck, hit escape and start again.
I always make formulas green, to distinguish them from straight numbers I entered. I learned
this one year while working for a Wall Street investment analyst, because he had giant
spreadsheets, and when a person makes a mistake it is a lot easier to find it, if the fomulas are
green. To make the formula green, click once on cell D2, look in the grey bar at the top for the
down arrow next to the letter A. Click on that down arrow and select green. Your cell should turn
green.
Step 4. Copy the formula.
Click once on cell D2 with the green formula in it, copy “control c” for copy, and then select the
cells D3 to D13 and copy “control v” to copy the formula into those cells.
Step 5. Making the graph.
In cell D1, type “Productivity.”
Block out cells D1 to D13, click on insert in the grey menu above, and click on the picture of a
line graph.
Inside your graph, click on the line [hit escape if you accidentally click on something else], and
then left click, and choose “select data.” Click on “edit” of the left hand side, and then block out
A2 to A13, and return. This should make the dates appear at the bottom of your graph. You can
hit the undo button at top of page a few times, if you need to redo for this one, which happened
to me once before I got it right.
Step 6. Save your work.
We are going to use this again.
Step 7. Discuss with your group.
Discuss with your group, and I will then ask these questions to various groups at random for a
larger class discussion.
A. how much in dollar terms did the typical person in the US produce in an hour in 2010,
and how much in 2021?
B. The Federal minimum wage is right now $7.25, which is also the New Hampshire
minimum wage. Recall that wages + profits = productivity. Write this equation on the
whiteboard at your table, and fill in the information you have for 2021. If a worker earns
$7.25 and produces the average amount per hour as shown for 2021 in the table, how
much is the employer obtaining in profit for each hour worked?
C. Do the same process on the white board for AVERAGE wage in 2021. The AVERAGE
wage in US was about $31 per hour in 2021. Given this wage, how much profit were
employers making per hour in the US typically?
D. Discuss what you learned by analyzing this productivity data.