U.S. Factory Worker Productivity Rises; Shutdown Limits Picture

Productivity for workers at all nonfarm businesses wasn’t reported

Eric Morath and

Sharon Nunn

Feb. 6, 2019 8:37 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—Productivity of U.S. manufacturing workers rose in the final three months of 2018, but a broader measure of nonfarm business productivity was not reported Wednesday due to the lingering effects of the partial government shutdown.

The productivity of manufacturing workers, measured as the output of goods for each hour on the job, increased at a 1.3% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department said. That compared with a 1.1% productivity gain for factory workers in the third quarter....