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    Economy

    BLS Reports Strong Productivity Growth in the Second Quarter

    Written by Tim Triplett


    Productivity growth was strong in the second quarter and unit labor costs increased 1.9 percent year over year, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.

    Unit labor costs and productivity changes are reported quarterly by the BLS and results for Q2 2018 were released this week. This basic information is required to truly understand the steel market. One way of looking at GDP is that it is the growth of the working age population multiplied by their productivity. Steel consumption is correlated with the growth of GDP.

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