Worker Productivity Eases Off In 1Q

A key measure of worker productivity posted its smallest increase in nine months, rising at a 2.4 percent rate in the first quarter of the year, the government reported Tuesday.

But even with the slower growth, gains in American workers’ productivity remain healthy, economists said.

The January-to-March increase in productivity - the amount of output per hour of work - followed a 6.9 percent growth rate in the final three months of last year, the Labor Department said.

The first-quarter rate - the same as the government estimated one month ago - was the slowest since the second quarter of 1999.