Employee productivity up in Q1

Despite high gas and food prices, worker productivity increased by a “better-than-expected” amount during the first quarter of the year.

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) reported that employee productivity (amount of output per hour of work), rose by 2.2 percent, as reported in an Associated Press article on MSNBC. That figure turned out to be higher than the 1.5 percent expected increase.

Analysts see the rise in productivity along with a small increase in unit labor costs as a good sign that inflation is remaining under control.