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Productivity Slowed in 4th Quarter
Wednesday February 6, 5:51 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Worker productivity, the key factor in rising living standards, slowed sharply in the final three months of the year as overall economic activity weakened considerably while labor pressures increased.
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, increased at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the October-December quarter, down from a 6 percent performance in the July-September period. The slowdown reflected the fact that overall economic activity skidded to a near standstill in the final three months of the year, with the gross domestic product rising at a barely perceptible rate of 0.6 percent.
Labor costs rose by 2.1 percent in the final three months of the year, after having fallen by 1.9 percent in the third quarter and 1.1 percent in the second quarter.
http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&feed=ap&src=601&news_id=ap-d8ul3lag0&date=20080206
Wednesday February 6, 5:51 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Worker productivity, the key factor in rising living standards, slowed sharply in the final three months of the year as overall economic activity weakened considerably while labor pressures increased.
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, increased at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the October-December quarter, down from a 6 percent performance in the July-September period. The slowdown reflected the fact that overall economic activity skidded to a near standstill in the final three months of the year, with the gross domestic product rising at a barely perceptible rate of 0.6 percent.
Labor costs rose by 2.1 percent in the final three months of the year, after having fallen by 1.9 percent in the third quarter and 1.1 percent in the second quarter.
http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&feed=ap&src=601&news_id=ap-d8ul3lag0&date=20080206
