U.S. productivity drops in Q1, hours rise strongly

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. nonfarm productivity fell more than expected in the first quarter as companies gave more hours to employees but only modestly expanded output, revised data from Labor Department showed on Wednesday. Productivity slipped at a 0.9 percent annual rate, a sharper decline than the 0.5 percent initially reported by the government. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected productivity to decline at a 0.7 percent rate during the period. Employers slashed payrolls during the 2007-09 recession, helping fuel a spike in productivity. ...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy barely grew in the fourth quarter although a slightly better performance in exports and fewer imports led the government to scratch an earlier estimate that showed an economic contraction. Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.1% annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, missing the 0.5% gain forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. The growth rate was the slowest since the first quarter of 2011 and far from what is needed to fuel a faster drop in the unemployment rate.

WASHINGTON — U.S. job growth grew modestly in January and gains in the prior two months were bigger than initially reported, supporting views the economy’s sluggish recovery was on track despite a surprise contraction in output in the final three months of 2012. Employers added 157,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. There were 127,000 more jobs created in November and December than previously reported. The unemployment rate, however, edged up 0.1 percentage point to 7.9%.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nonfarm productivity increased at a modest pace in the third quarter, giving little sign that businesses are poised to ramp up hiring significantly. Productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 1.9 percent annual rate, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Many economists would read a drop in productivity as a sign that companies are closer to maxing out production with existing staff and would have to boost hiring. But the third-quarter reading matched the revised reading for the prior three-month period. ...

Nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 54,000 job in August, and the unemployment rate increased to 9.6%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Government employment fell, as 114,000 temporary workers hired for the census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment continued to trend up modestly (+67,000).