U.S. productivity rose 1.6% in the second quarter

As reported by the Labor Department, the world's biggest economy's productivity rebounded in the April-to-June period and added 1.6 per cent, after declining by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.  Despite the fact that the number of hours employees worked was little changed, the total amount of produced goods and services jumped 2%. Moreover, hourly wages added 3.3 per cent, while productivity in the manufacturing sector decelerated to a 0.2 per cent increase.