Second-Quarter Productivity Revised Downward to 1.8%

.S. workers’ productivity grew at a 1.8% annual rate in the second quarter, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The latest reading was lower than the 2.2% second-quarter rate originally reported in early August. It compared with a 3.2% rate in the first quarter.

Economists had forecast productivity — a measure of how much an employee produces for every hour of work — to rise 2.1%, Bloomberg reported.

Among manufacturers, productivity grew at a 3.6% rate, while labor costs rose 4.7%.

For non-financial corporations, productivity rose 6.8% while costs dropped 2.6%, Labor said.