The productivity of American workers advanced a barely perceptible 0.2 percent in 1991 after two years of declines, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
The lackluster productivity increase in 1991 comes after declines of 0.1 percent in 1990 and 0.9 percent in 1989. It was the first rise since the 0.9 percent advance in 1988.
Last year`s U.S. productivity gain was far below the 1.3 percent average for the 1982-88 period, following the end of the previous recession. It looked still worse when compared with the post-World War II average gain of 2.5 percent.
Productivity-defined as output per hour of work by non-farm workers-grew at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the final three months of the year, a modest improvement over the 0.9 percent rate in the third quarter.
Increased productivity-or getting each worker to do more per hour of work-is considered vital to improving Americans` standard of living. Economists believe that productivity will get better this year as the economy shakes off the effects of the recession that began in July 1990.
When sales sag in response to a declining economy, business executives are often slow to order layoffs. Therefore, productivity slides.
