Productivity rose at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the first three months of the year, the best showing in nine months, and jobless claims edged up for the second straight week, government reports showed.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the increase in productivity compared to a 2.1 percent rate of increase in the October-December quarter of last year. It was a slightly better gain than economists had been expecting and represented the fastest increase since a 3.9 percent jump in the April-June quarter of last year.
In other news, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose for to 333,000 last week, reflecting a larger-than-expected rise of 11,000 benefit applications from the previous week. It was the second straight weekly increase following a rise of 22,000 the previous week.
