Economics
U.S. Productivity Posts Best Back-to-Back Quarters Since 2015
- Output per hour rose at 2.2% pace last quarter following 3%
- Jobless claims near half-century low show tight labor market
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Productivity gains in the U.S. posted the best back-to-back quarters since 2015, echoing a pickup in economic growth and offering some hope that faster expansion without stoking inflation is possible.
The main measure of nonfarm business employee output per hour increased at a 2.2 percent annualized rate in the July-September period, a Labor Department report showed Thursday. That compared with an estimated 2.1 percent rise in Bloomberg’s survey of economists and a revised 3 percent in the previous three months.