Productivity Problems

Productivity Problems

  U.S. workers got a lot less productive in the first quarter of this year. According to the latest figures from the Labor Department, nonfarm business employee output per hour—or simply labor productivity—dropped by a 7.5% annual rate from the previous quarter,...
Not So Cheap Labor

Not So Cheap Labor

  For this week’s indicator, we focus on nonfarm unit labor costs. The biggest expense for most businesses is labor. And one way to measure the cost of labor is by looking at unit labor costs, or how much a firm pays its workers to produce one unit of output. In...