US Worker Productivity Slows to 1.6% While Wages Increase at 4.9%
|
The productivity of American workers slowed in the second quarter while
wage pressures increased. The Labor
Department said that productivity, the amount of output per hour of
work, in the nonfarm business sector increased at an annual rate of
1.6% in the April-June quarter, down from a 4.3% growth rate in the
January-March period.
Wages registered a second sizable increase, rising at an annual rate of 4.9% in the second quarter, which may lead the Federal Reserve Board and economists to worry about inflation. In manufacturing, the revised productivity changes in the second quarter were: 2.6% in manufacturing, 3.7% in durable goods manufacturing, and 2.3% in nondurable goods manufacturing. Manufacturing includes about 13% of U.S. business-sector employment. |
|
|
Hourly compensation in the business sector grew at a 6.3% annual rate in
the second quarter of 2006, compared with a 13.6% rate of growth one
quarter earlier.
Additional reports:
|
|
