Second-quarter U.S. productivity growth stays at 2.9%

• September 6, 2018
• realestate
• Announcements, Business & Markets, Real Estate, Real Estate Finance, Your Real Estate Life

Output grew 5% instead of 4.8% as previously reported. The increase in hours worked was raised to 2% from 1.9%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. Unit-labor costs fell a revised 1%, a touch higher than the initially reported 0.9% decline. The most notable change was in manufacturing, whose productivity growth was revised up to 1.5% from 0.9%. The increase in U.S. productivity in the second quarter was the largest in more than three years, but it’s generally been weak through the nine-year-old expansion. Economists are waiting to see if the Trump tax cuts encourage businesses to invest more and help speed up productivity growth, the key to a higher standard of living for American families.