Worker Productivity in Q2 Revised Sharply Higher

U.S. worker productivity grew faster than initially thought in the second quarter, curbing the rise in labor costs.

Nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 3.3% annualized rate last quarter, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday.

That figure was revised up from the previously reported 2.4% pace of increase. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast productivity growth would be upgraded to a 2.7% rate.

Productivity decreased at a 1.8% rate in the first quarter. It grew at a 1.5% rate from a year ago, revised up from the 1.3% pace estimated last month. Productivity could get a boost from a boom in artificial intelligence investment.

Unit labor costs - the price of labor per single unit of output - increased at a 1.0% rate last quarter. They were revised down from the previously reported 1.6% growth pace. Labor costs increased at a 2.5% rate from a year ago, down from the previously reported 2.6% pace.