U.S. worker productivity fell in the opening months of 2015, underscoring an economic soft patch marked by weak business investment and tepid wage gains. The productivity of nonfarm workers, measured as the output of goods and services per hour worked, decreased at a 3.1% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was revised down from an initial estimate of a 1.9% slide.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 3% decline for the first quarter.
Productivity dropped in the first quarter as output decreased at a 1.6% pace and hours worked rose at a 1.6% rate.
A gauge of compensation costs, unit labor costs, increased at a 6.7% annual rate in the first three months of the year. The figure was revised up from an earlier estimate of 5%.
Economists had expected a 6% rise.
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