U.S. worker productivity rose at an annual rate of 1.8% in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
The productivity rate followed a revised 6% rate in the third quarter, Labor said.
The level topped economists’ estimates of a 0.5% third-quarter rate, Bloomberg reported.
Productivity is a measure of how much an employee produces for every hour of work.
When worker efficiency improves at a slower pace and labor becomes more expensive, companies may raise prices in order to guard their profits, contributing to more rapid inflation.
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