Well, which is it?

In this NYT story, Second Recession in U.S. Could Be Worse Than First, readers are treated to this astonishing bit of rhetorical whiplash:

Even those Americans who are working are generally working less; the typical private sector worker has a shorter workweek today than four years ago.

Employers shed all the extra work shifts and weak or extraneous employees that they could during the last recession. As shown by unusually strong productivity gains, companies are now squeezing as much work as they can from their newly “lean and mean” work forces.

In three sentences, we go from the typical worker having “a shorter workweek today than four years ago,” to companies “squeezing as much work as they can” from those same employees. Something is missing here….