The BLS Productivity & Costs report for Q2 2016 shows labor productivity decreased -0.5% annualized. Output increased 1.2% and hours worked increased 1.8%. Unit Labor costs increased only 0.5% in Q2 2015. The reason labor productivity declined was because economic output grew less than worked hours. For the 2015 year, annual productivity rose 0.9%.
The BLS Productivity & Costs report for Q2 2015 shows labor productivity increased 1.3% annualized. Output increased 2.8% and hours worked increased 1.5%. Unit Labor costs increased only 0.5% in Q2 2015. The reason labor productivity rose was because economic output grew more than worker hours. Both Q4 2014 and Q1 2015 showed decreases in labor productivity.
The BLS Productivity & Costs report for Q3 2014 shows labor productivity increased 2.0% annualized. Output increased 4.4% and hours worked increased 2.3%. Unit Labor costs increased only 0.3% in Q3 2014. The reason labor productivity rose was because economic output grew more than worker hours. Overall labor is still getting squeezed for more efficiency and wages are still repressed.
The BLS Productivity & Costs report for Q3 2013 shows labor productivity increased a whopping annualized 3.0%. This is the largest increase in productivity since Q4 2009. Output increased 4.7% and hours worked increased 1.7%. Unit Labor costs dropped by -1.4% in Q3 2013. The reason labor productivity surged was increased economic output while worker hours did not increase as much.
The Q1 2013 Productivity & Costs revision shows labor productivity increased an annualized 0.5%. Output increased 2.1% and hours worked increased 1.6%. Hourly compensation dropped -3.8% in Q1 2013. This is the largest quarterly decline for wages in history. Between the numbers lies even more bad news for workers. Labor is simply getting squeezed to death as workers created more while being paid less. This quarterly report also shows there is no worker shortage for compensation would surely rise if demand for workers exceeded supply.
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