On my daily run. I saw construction workers (high probability illegals) literally carrying buckets of dirt up a hill while preparing a homesite. In other words, they were grading the site (admittedly on a steep and hemmed in lot) by hand, with techniques used since the days of Moses and Pharoh . When you can get an abundance of cheap labor, it doesn't pay to rent equipment such as a Bobcat. That's hell on productivity.

The workers, and there were about twelve on the site, didn't even bother to form a bucket brigade, which would have helped a bit. The guys were each trudging individual buckets up the hill.
Sure this is an anecdote, but I think it reflect reality more than a lot of the stats out there.

If we are lucky, otherwise we could end up with a recession.

There is pretty much no chance of this somehow leading to the obverse. Wages will continue to stagnate except for those at the very top until either unions revive or the Federal government forces companies to raise wages. Beyond the minimum wage increase, I don't see a lot of likelihood of either.

Labor productivity in the United States has declined every year since 2002.

Good Lord! Certainly one hopes you mean "the rate of labor productivity growth in the United States has declined every year since 2002," instead.

I confess I fail to see why firms would have an economic incentive to act in this fashion.

Then they won't. Why pretend they will? Simply so you don't have to worry about the fate of workers?

Many states have been taking a proactive stance towards raising wages. In the states where I live (college student), both have recently passed new minimum wage laws. Both have drastically increased the min. wage. This seems to be artificially increasing wages, rather than allowing the market to account for it. The state governments have stepped in and adjusted the min. wage. I think that this will not allow wages to increase much more than what has been mandated.