U.S. Productivity Rose 3% in 4Q, Closing Out Weakest Year Since 1974
February 02 2023 - 09:38AM
Dow Jones News
By Harriet Torry
U.S. labor productivity rose for the second consecutive quarter
in the fourth quarter, although for the year as a whole
productivity posted its biggest decline in nearly five decades.
U.S. nonfarm labor productivity--a measure of goods and services
produced in the U.S. per hour worked-rose at a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 3% in the fourth quarter from the prior quarter, the
Labor Department said Thursday.
Quarterly productivity figures are volatile. Annual average
productivity declined 1.3% in 2022 - the biggest year-over-year
decline since 1974. Productivity dropped in a year when economic
output cooled but employers were rapidly restaffing after layoffs
early in the pandemic.
Third-quarter productivity was revised higher, to a 1.4%
increase from a previous estimate of 0.8%.
Unit labor costs, a measure of worker compensation and
productivity, increased at a 1.1% pace in the fourth quarter from
the prior quarter, the Labor Department said.
Annual average hourly compensation rose 4.4%, but adjusted for
inflation compensation declined 3.4% in 2022 - a sign that price
pressures are continuing to pinch workers' take-home pay
packets.
Write to Harriet Torry at harriet.torry@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 02, 2023 09:23 ET (14:23 GMT)
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