US productivity records biggest ever annual drop in Q2|CC0 1.0

Worker productivity in the US fell for a second-straight quarter—its worst-ever consecutive readings—forcing another surge in labor costs, the government said Tuesday.

Productivity—nonfarm business employee output per hour—decreased 4.6% over the year in the second quarter after a 7.4% drop in the first quarter, figures from the Department of Labor show.

These are the weakest ever back-to-back readings in the country since the Labor Department started tracking productivity in 1948.

Wage increase
The price of labor per single unit of output increased at a rate of 10.8% following a 12.7% rate of growth in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, an acute shortage of workers has boosted wages by 9.5% from a year ago.