Worker Productivity Sees First Back-To-Back Drop Since 2006

Source: MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — American employees and companies evidently are not as productive at work as they used to be.

U.S. productivity fell by a 1.9% annual pace in the first quarter, resulting in the first back-to-back drop since 2006, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Over the past four quarters productivity has risen at a scant 0.6% rate, just one-fourth the nation’s average since the end of World War Two.

The decline in productivity stemmed from companies hiring more workers and employees working longer hours even as the production of goods and services declined.

Hours worked rose 1.7% in the first quarter, while output of goods and services fell 0.2%, the government said.

Lower output may have been partly the result of an unusually harsh winter disrupting production in early 2015 and a surging dollar that curtailed U.S. exports. The economy grew just 0.2% in the first quarter, preliminary data show, and that number could turn negative when the government revises it later this month.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/worker-productivity-sees-first-back-to-back-drop-since-2006-2015-05-06