US productivity revised upward in first quarter

American companies squeezed more out of their workers in the first quarter of this year than previously reported, a government…

American companies squeezed more out of their workers in the first quarter of this year than previously reported, a government report showed today.

US non-farm productivity climbed 1.9 per cent in the first three months of the year, the US government said, in an upward revision from the previously reported 1.6 per cent gain.

The number met analyst expectations and followed an increase of just 0.7 per cent in the final quarter of last year.

Unit labour costs, a closely watched measure of wage pressures, were revised down to a 1.5 per cent increase, just below analyst forecasts for a 1.6 per cent rise.