Worker productivity in the United States grew in the second quarter as employers cut jobs to offset the increasing costs of raw materials, Bloomberg reported.

Efficiency, a measure of how much an employee produces for each hour of work, rose at a 2.2 percent annual rate, less than forecast, after a 2.6 percent gain in the prior quarter, the U.S. Department of Labor said today. Labor costs climbed at a 1.3 percent rate, also less than anticipated.

Americans toiled an average 33 hours and 36 minutes per week, six minutes less than in June and matching the shortest workweek since records began in 1964, government figures showed.

Employers eliminated 165,000 jobs from April through June to shore up profits and still managed to get more output with fewer workers. Gains in productivity help lower inflation and bolster the Federal Reserve’s forecast that prices will moderate.

The yields on Treasury securities fell in the minutes following the report before turning higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was 3.9 percent at 8:45 a.m. CDT, compared with 3.93 percent late Thursday.

Compared with the second quarter of last year, productivity rose 2.8 percent.

Manufacturers’ productivity dropped at a 1.4 percent pace, the biggest decline since the last three months of 2003.

Employers remained focused on maintaining productivity at the start of the second half of the year. Payrolls fell in July for a seventh straight month and the number of hours worked dropped. Compensation for each hour worked climbed at a 3.6 percent annual rate after a 5.2 percent gain in the prior quarter, the Labor Department report said.

This is the Labor Department’s preliminary report on efficiency. Final figures will be released on Sept. 4.