It seems that the average employee is working much harder in this troubled economy. The United States Labor Department released its productivity findings today for the 2nd quarter period from April to June, reporting that the average worker is 1.6% more productive than last quarter.
The statistic measures the amount of output per hour worked. Typically when the productivity rate per worker is high, it discourages businesses from hiring, as there seems to be no reason to.
According to the same report, output increased 2% for the same period, and hours worked rose just 0.4%. In addition to these statistics, the Labor Department's findings said that labor costs grew 1.7% for the quarter, far above analysts estimates of 0.6%.