Companies in U.S. Sustain Productivity Gains to Cut Labor Costs

From bloomberg.com

The productivity of U.S. workers held up in the third quarter as companies focused on cutting labor expenses to preserve profits as sales cool. The measure of employee output per hour climbed at a 1.9 percent annual rate, the same as in the prior three months, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 60 economists called for a 1.8 percent rise. Costs per worker unexpectedly dropped at a 0.1 percent rate. The decrease in expenses reflects concern about cooling overseas markets and the so-called fiscal cliff of tax increases and government spending cuts that may ... (full story)