Fourth-quarter U.S. worker productivity rose 1.9%, up from an earlier reported 1.8% figure, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
The level followed the third-quarter’s 6.3% gain. Productivity is a measure of how much an employee produces for every hour of work.
Economists had forecast a level of 1.8%, Bloomberg reported.
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.