US productivity shows no gain in fourth quarter
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WASHINGTON — U.S. productivity showed no gain in the fourth quarter, the poorest performance since an outright decline in the first quarter of 2016. It was further evidence of the struggles the country is facing in boosting worker efficiency.
The Labor Department says the flat reading was a slight improvement over an initial estimate a month ago that productivity had actually fallen at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.1 per cent last quarter. Labor costs rose at an annual rate of 2.5 per cent in the fourth quarter, a modest gain that followed a 1 per cent increase in the third quarter.
For the year, productivity rose 1.2 per cent, a weak performance but a slight improvement from no gain at all in 2016. Boosting productivity is seen as the country’s biggest economic challenge.
