|
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that productivity -- the amount an employee produces for every hour on the job
-- increased at an annual rate of just 1.9 percent in the October-to-December quarter. That was down considerably from the third quarter's brisk, 6.3 percent growth rate and was the slowest pace since the first quarter of last year.
As productivity growth slowed, labor costs went up.
Employers' unit labor costs rose at a 2.6 percent clip in the fourth quarter. That compared with an annualized decline of 2.7 percent in the third quarter. It marked the largest increase in labor costs since the first quarter of last year. Unit labor costs is a measure of how much companies pay workers for every unit of output they produce.
[Associated
Press; By JEANNINE AVERSA]
Copyright 2008 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
