US Labor Productivity Jumps Much More Than Initially Estimated In Q2 - The Budapest Report
Worker productivity increased at an annual rate of 3. 3% in the April-June quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. That was a rebound from the first quarter when productivity had fallen at a 1. 1% rate and a sizeable upward revision from the government’s first estimate of a 1. 3% growth rate. Even with the strong gain in the second quarter, productivity over the past year has increased by just 0. 7%, far below the long-run average of 2. 2%. Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, has been sluggish since the recession and... The latest productivity figure reflects the revised estimate the government made for overall economic growth as measured by the gross domestic product. It revised GDP growth for the second quarter up to a 3. 7% rate of gain, more than a percentage point higher than the initial estimate of 2. 3%. This change triggered the higher estimate for productivity. Productivity has risen an average of just 1. 3% a year from 2007 through 2014. That is far below the strong 2. 8% average annual growth that occurred from 1995 through 2004, gains that economists attributed to efficiency boosts the economy was... Source: budapestreport.com
