(Bloomberg) - Accelerating labor costs and signs of slower economic growth prompted U.S. companies to throttle back on the number of hours their employees worked in the first quarter, leading to a larger-than-expected rise in productivity.

According to the Bloomberg report, while productivity improves as growth slows, employers have reason to cap hiring when they pay more for materials and labor. Labor costs were 2.5 percent higher than they were last year at this time. The increase was the biggest in almost four years, a signal to the Federal Reserve that inflation may keep accelerating, economists said.

Read more

Bookmark It

Hide Sites