UK’s hourly productivity grows

LONDON, Oct 07 (Reuters): British workers' hourly productivity grew in the second quarter at the fastest rate since late 2016 and labour cost growth slowed, according to official figures.

The figures suggested domestic inflation pressures remained fairly contained.

Output per hour in the three months to June rose by 1.4 per cent compared with a year earlier, a fraction less than an initial estimate of 1.5 per cent announced last month but still the biggest increase since the three months to December 2016.

Unit labour cost growth slowed to 2.0 per cent in the second quarter from a one-year high of 2.7 per cent in the first three months of 2018.