U.S. labor productivity is accelerating, and companies are improving efficiency to control costs.

U.S. labor productivity in the second quarter grew faster than expected, indicating that businesses are striving to improve efficiency to alleviate pressures from rising costs. Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday showed that non-farm labor productivity increased at an annual rate of 1.4%, after a revised increase of 0.8% in the first quarter. Meanwhile, unit labor costs the cost incurred by businesses to produce one unit of output grew by 1.3%. Year-on-year, U.S. labor productivity in the second quarter increased by 2.2%. The median estimates from economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected an annual growth rate of 0.6% for U.S. labor productivity in the second quarter, with unit labor costs rising by 2.1%.