Politicians often advocate increased overall economic productivity while ignoring its drawbacks. For example, attempting to increase the productivity of a corporation means attempting to increase its profitability, which typically leads to a reduction in the number of workers employed by that corporation. Thus, attempting to increase productivity in the economy as a whole may benefit business owners, but will increase the number of unemployed workers.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument presumes, without providing justification, that increased unemployment is sufficient reason to abandon increased productivity as an economic goal.