U.S. Productivity Growth Slows in the Second Quarter

U.S. worker productivity growth slowed in the second quarter and labor costs were far weaker than previously estimated in the first quarter, the Labor Department said on Tuesday.

Nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 2.3% annualized rate last quarter. Data for the first quarter was revised lower to show productivity rising at a 4.3% rate instead of the previously reported 5.4% pace. Economists recent polls had expected productivity to rise at a 3.5% rate. Productivity jumped early in global lockdowns before slumping in the final three months of 2020, and has since rebounded. The see-sawing has been partly attributed to the cratering of lower-wage industries, like leisure and hospitality, which have been reopening over the past few months at an increasingly brisk pace. Small business owners across the United States grew less confident in the economic recovery in July as labor shortages remained an issue, according to a National Federation of Independent Business survey released on Tuesday.