Productivity of U.S. Workers Decreased in the First Quarter

American workers were less productive in the first quarter as harsh winter weather prevented some from getting to their jobs, causing the economy to stall.

The measure of employee output per hour dropped at a 1.7 percent annualized rate, the weakest reading in a year, after rising at a 2.3 percent pace in the last three months of 2013, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 59 economists called for a 1.2 percent drop. Unit labor costs climbed at a 4.2 percent rate, more than estimated.