WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. worker productivity grew faster than initially thought in the second quarter, curbing the rise in labor costs.
Nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 3.3% annualized rate last quarter, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday.
That figure was revised up from the previously reported 2.4% pace of increase. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast productivity growth would be upgraded to a 2.7% rate.
Productivity decreased at a 1.8% rate in the first quarter. It grew at a 1.5% rate from a year ago, revised up from the 1.3% pace estimated last month. Productivity could get a boost from a boom in artificial intelligence investment.
Unit labor costs – the price of labor per single unit of output – increased at a 1.0% rate last quarter. They were revised down from the previously reported 1.6% growth pace. Labor costs increased at a 2.5% rate from a year ago, down from the previously reported 2.6% pace.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
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