U.S. worker productivity increased at its fastest pace in 11 years in the second quarter as hours plunged amid the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic, leading to an acceleration in labor costs.
The Department of Labor said on Friday nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 7.3 percent annualized rate last quarter, its largest rise since the second quarter of 2009. Productivity fell at a 0.3 percent pace in the January-March period. Hours worked tumbled at a 43.0 percent rate in the second quarter, the largest since the series started in the first quarter of 1947.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast productivity rebounding at a 1.5 percent rate in the second quarter.
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