Worker Productivity Slowed This Spring

The efficiency of America’s workers grew at a slightly slower pace in the spring as companies sought to produce more with leaner work forces, according to the Associated Press.

The Labor Department said productivity — the amount an employee produces for every hour on the job — grew at an annual rate of 2.2% during the April-to-June quarter.  That was down from a 2.6% growth rate logged in the first three months of this year.  Economists were forecasting productivity to pick up slightly to a 2.7% pace.

Growth in compensation, wages and benefits, also slowed.  Unit labor costs slipped to a 1.3% pace in the second quarter, from a 2.5% growth rate in the first quarter.  Unit labor costs is a measure of how much companies pay workers for every unit of output they produce.