June 1, 2006 8:50 AM, EDT

First-Quarter Productivity Revised Upward to 3.7%

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irst-quarter worker productivity jumped at a 3.7% annual rate, the Labor Department said Thursday.

he rate was greater than the 3.2% originally reported last month and turned around at 0.3% decline in the fourth quarter, Labor said.

The first-quarter rate was below economists’ forecasts of a 3.9% gain, Bloomberg reported. Productivity is a measure of how much an employee produces for every hour of work.

Labor costs rose at a 1.6% annual rate and were up 0.3% for the twelve months ended in March, marking the smallest increase in a year.

Among manufacturers, productivity rose at a 3.8% rate following a 4.7% rise in the fourth quarter.