Increase in U.S. Productivity Helps to Restrain Labor Costs

The productivity of U.S. workers rose more than projected in the fourth quarter as the world’s largest economy expanded, helping to restrain labor costs.

The measure of employee output per hour increased at a 3.2 percent annualized rate, after a revised 3.6 percent gain in the prior three months that was more than initially reported, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 2.8 percent advance in the fourth quarter. Expenses per worker decreased at a 1.6 percent pace, more than estimated.