“Worker output fell 7.5% in the first quarter, the biggest decline since 1947”
May 5, 2022
“…Nonfarm productivity, a measure of output against hours worked, declined 7.5% from January through March, the biggest fall since the third quarter of 1947.
At the same time, unit labor costs soared 11.6%, bringing the increase over the past four quarters to 7.2%, the biggest gain since the third quarter of 1982. The metric calculates how much employers pay workers in salary and benefits per unit of output…
A separate Labor Department report Thursday showed that jobless claims increased to 200,000 for the week ended April 30, a 19,000 gain from the previous period and above the Dow Jones estimate for 182,000.
Continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, fell 19,000 to 1.38 million, the lowest level since Jan. 17, 1970…”