Nonfarm Worker Output Rose at 0.1% Annual Rate
WASHINGTON -- Worker productivity in nonfarm businesses edged up at a 0.1% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department said in revisions of an earlier report that said the figure was unchanged.</br></br>Productivity, or output for each hour of work, climbed at an annual rate of 2% in the third quarter and dropped at a 2.4% rate in the second.</br></br>The department estimated that productivity for all businesses, including farms, declined at a 2% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the same as originally reported. A drop in farm output stemming from last summer's drought was largely responsible.</br></br>Growth in productivity is critical to the economy if it is to continue expanding without inflation.</br></br>Unit labor costs increased at an annual rate of 5.6% in the fourth quarter, as the department initially calculated, after increasing at a 3.7% annual rate in the third quarter and a 6.8% annual rate in the second.