Labour productivity is a key concept for understanding the way modern economies use resources and features prominently in ecological economics. Ecological economists have questioned the desirability of labour productivity growth on both environmental and social grounds. In this paper we aim to contribute to ongoing debates by focusing on the link between labour productivity and worker wellbeing. First, we review the evidence for the happy-productive worker thesis, which suggests labour productivity could be improved by increasing worker wellbeing. Second, we review the evidence on ways that productivity growth may undermine worker wellbeing. We find there is experimental evidence demonstrating a causal effect of worker wellbeing on productivity, but that the relationship can also sometimes involve resource-intensive mediators. Taken together with the evidence of a negative impact on worker wellbeing from productivity growth, we conclude that a relentless pursuit of productivity growth is potentially counterproductive, not only in terms of worker wellbeing, but even in terms of long-term productivity.

劳动生产率是理解现代经济使用资源方式的关键概念，并且在生态经济学中占有重要地位。生态经济学家从环境和社会两方面质疑劳动生产率增长的可取性。本文旨在通过关注劳动生产率与工人福祉之间的联系，为正在进行的辩论做出贡献。首先，我们回顾了快乐生产的工人论点的证据，该论点表明，通过提高工人的福利可以提高劳动生产率。其次，我们回顾了有关生产率增长可能损害工人福利的方式的证据。我们发现有实验证据证明了工人幸福感对生产率的因果关系，但这种关系有时也可能涉及资源密集型调解人。