Worker productivity in the United States rose more than 5 percent in the first quarter of this year, the Labor Department said on Thursday, unveiling another piece of data that pointed to encouraging recovery in the world's largest economy from the coronavirus pandemic
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2021) Worker productivity in the United States rose more than 5 percent in the first quarter of this year, the Labor Department said on Thursday, unveiling another piece of data that pointed to encouraging recovery in the world's largest economy from the coronavirus pandemic.
"Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021," the department said in a news release.
Economists polled by US media had expected a productivity rate of 4.3 percent for the January-March period.
The Labor Department had initially reported a decline of 4.2 percent in productivity for the previous quarter between October and March, but revised that to 3.8 percent in Thursday's update.
Earlier on Thursday, the Labor Department reported that some 498,000 Americans filed for jobless claims last week, the lowest since March 2020 and the first below the 500,000 mark since the US outbreak of COVID-19 last year.
The jobless claims number followed a rash of bullish macroeconomic data accompanied by falling infection rates for the virus versus a spiking vaccination drive by the government.
