Productivity in the US also fell in this quarter, while at the same time labor costs showed a significant increase, intensifying fears of inflationary pressures.
In particular, after a 7.4% drop in the first quarter, productivity (or hourly output per worker in non-agricultural businesses) fell again in the second quarter at an annual rate of 4.7%.
This is the first time since 1947 that productivity has declined in two consecutive quarters.
The drop was even greater on an annual basis, as hourly production per employee was down 2.5% compared to last year.
However, it can be taken as a positive sign that economists in a Reuters survey had expected a larger drop in productivity in the quarter, by 4.7%.
In any case, with the big drop in productivity, unit labor costs jumped 10.8% in the second quarter compared to the previous one.
On a year-on-year basis, the increase compared to last year was the largest recorded since 1982, at +9.5%.
Finally, hourly compensation increased at a rate of 5.7% in the second quarter and at a rate of 6.7% over the same period last year.
Source: Capital
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