Figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Labor Department showed non-farm productivity unexpectedly fell in the second quarter, pointing to sustained weakness that could raise concerns about corporate profits and companies' ability to maintain their recent robust pace of hiring.
The report said on Tuesday that productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, dropped at a 0.5% annual rate in the April-June period. It was the third consecutive quarterly decline.
Productivity fell at an unrevised 0.6% rate in the first quarter. Economists had forecast productivity rising at a 0.4% rate in the second quarter.
Productivity decreased at a 0.4% rate compared to the second quarter of 2015, the fastest pace of decline in three years. Revisions to data going back to 2013 also confirmed the softening productivity trend, which over time would suggest pressure on corporate profits and a slowdown in job gains.
