U.S. nonfarm productivity
unexpectedly fell in the second quarter, pointing to sustained weakness that
could raise concerns about corporate profits and companies' ability to maintain
their recent robust pace of hiring.
CNBC reports that the Labor
Department said on Tuesday that productivity, which measures hourly output per
worker, dropped at a 0.5 percent annual rate in the April-June period. It was
the third consecutive quarterly decline.
Productivity fell at an
unrevised 0.6 percent rate in the first quarter. Economists polled by Reuters
had forecast productivity rising at a 0.4 percent rate in the second quarter.
Productivity decreased at a
0.4 percent rate compared to the second quarter of 2015, the fastest pace of
decline in three years. Revisions to data going back to 2013 also confirmed the
softening productivity trend, which over time would suggest pressure on
corporate profits and a slowdown in job gains.
Strong employment gains have
helped to raise output. Nonfarm payrolls increased by more than 500,000 jobs in
June and July.
Output per worker in the
second quarter increased at a 1.2 percent rate, up from the 0.7 percent pace
notched in the January-March period. The government reported last month that
gross domestic product rose at a 1.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter
following a 0.8 percent rise in the first quarter.
Unit labor costs, the price
of labor per single unit of output, increased at a 2.0 percent pace in the
second quarter.
First-quarter unit labor
costs were revised to show a 0.2 percent rate of decrease, instead of the
previously reported 4.5 percent increase. Second-quarter unit labor costs rose
at a 2.1 percent rate compared to the same period of 2015.
Hourly compensation per hour
rose at a 1.5 percent rate in the second quarter after falling at a 0.8 percent
pace in the prior quarter.
No comments:
Post a Comment