Productivity rebounds in first quarter while wage pressures ease as recession deepens

Productivity rebounds while wage pressures ease

WASHINGTON — The government says productivity rebounded in the first three months of this year while wage pressures eased, both outcomes reflecting the country’s deep recession.

The Labor Department said Thursday that productivity, the key ingredient to rising living standards, grew at a 0.8 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter, slightly better than the 0.6 percent increase that economists had expected.

Wage pressures, as measured by unit labor costs, increased at a 3.3 percent rate, higher than the 2.8 percent rise that economists had expected but lower than the 5.7 percent spike in the final three months of last year.