Productivity Gains Fail to Keep Pace With Labor Costs

Productivity Gains Fail to Keep Pace With Labor Costs (Update2)
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Productivity gains failed to keep pace with rising wages and benefits in the first quarter, pointing to greater risk of accelerating inflation.
Employer costs rose at an annual rate of 2.5 percent after a 3 percent rise in the previous three months, the Labor Department said in Washington. Productivity, a measure of how much an employee produces for each hour of work, increased at an annual rate of 3.2 percent after a 0.3 percent decline.

U.S. productivity expanded at a robust clip in the first quarter, helping to offset a strong quarterly gain in hourly compensation. Separately, jobless claims rose to a six-month high in the latest week (WSJ)