Economics Which of the following is LEAST likely to be a cause of long-term secular slowness in increases in U. S. labor productivity? (a) transition of the economy increasingly toward services and away from manufacturing; (b) falling levels of the capital to labor ratio; (c) deglobalization and the shift of production from places outside the U. S. to places within the U. S.; (d) tighter labor markets and the infusion of more and more workers with below-average skills.

(c) deglobalization and the shift of production from places outside the U.S. to places within the U.S.

Explanation:

The secular aspect of a trend is the main driver of that trend, and the secular aspect of the slowness in increases in U.S. labor productivity is not deglobalization and the shift of production from outside the U.S. to inside the U.S., since what has been happening in the latest decades is exactly the opposite.

Globalization has led many U.S. jobs, specially in manufacturing, to be shipped away from the country to other places where labor costs are cheaper, like China, Vietnam and Malasya.