2Q Productivity Increases

U.S. workers’ second-quarter productivity rose 1.6%, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The increase follows a revised 0.5% drop in the prior three months, which was previously reported as a 0.9% decline.

Productivity is a measure of how much an employee produces for every hour of work.

Economists had forecast a 1.4% rise, Bloomberg reported. Expenses per worker rose at a 1.7% rate, after increasing a revised 5.6%.

When worker efficiency improves at a slower pace and labor becomes more expensive, companies may raise prices in order to guard their profits, contributing to more rapid inflation.