Profit per employee = $68,655

[spinbaby]

I found this article while digging around the finance section:

Are you paid what you're worth?
Monday April 3, 5:10 pm ET
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Speak about a productive workforce.

In calendar year 2004, the profit-per-employee at U.S. companies was $68,655, up 55 percent from the year before, according to a survey by human capital measurement firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Saratoga.

(snip)

PwC Saratoga also found that for every $100 spent on salary and benefits, the average U.S. company enjoyed $42 in profit, double from the year before.

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/060403/040306_sahadi.html

[On the Road]

1. Wow -- That's Amazing

I can't beleive how high corporate profits are. Theoretically, competition should drive prices down towards cost, but it's not happening. For one thing, it really shows how little leverage workers in getting increased wages. It also means stocks have a long way to fall in the next recession.

Believe it or not, this is not all bad news. It gives the next Democratic president more leeway in making the right decisions in 2009. Those huge profits are ripe for being taxed to balance the budget -- preferably after they become income for the top 1%. And increased productivity is what's going to keep Social Security solvent for the long term.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. That is why these guys want Bush in office.

[Jacobin]

3. There's something wrong with that number

I'm not sure how they calculated it, but try plugging some numbers in.

For instance, if you guesstimate that there 50 million employees (probably way too low), that would mean that corporate PROFITS (not revenues, PROFITS) are $3.8 TRILLION a year, which is out of the ballpark. The entire gross domestic product for 2005 was $12.3 trillion.

I'm not sure how they define 'profits' and who they consider in the "employee' column, but this appears to be some gilding of the lilly.