WASHINGTON – The nation’s productivity in the last quarter was lower than previously thought, and labor costs were higher, The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said today.
Non-farm productivity rose at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the BLS said. That was only 53 percent of the 3-percent rate reported Feb. 7. For the full calendar year, the gain in productivity also was 1.6 percent.
“This will keep the Fed on the offense,” Chris Rupkey, senior financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, told Bloomberg News. “We are likely to see productivity weaken over the year ahead as manufacturing and housing exert their drag on growth.”
Manufacturing productivity grew at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the same as in the preliminary estimate, as hours fell faster than output.
Meanwhile, unit labor costs rose 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter, after gaining 1.1 percent in the third quarter. The fourth-quarter gain was credited to a one-time rise in bonuses.
The full BLS productivity report can be seen at www.bls.gov.
