Fourth-Quarter Productivity Revised Upward

Worker productivity jumped 6.9% in the fourth quarter, capping the largest one-year gain since 2002, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The level was higher than an originally reported 6.2% rate, Labor said. The full-year productivity rate was 3.8%, Labor said.

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

Economists had forecast a 6.3% annual rate for the fourth quarter, Bloomberg reported.

Among manufacturers, fourth-quarter productivity rose at a 6.6% rate, while labor costs fell at a 5.9% rate.

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.