BUSINESS MEMO: INCREASED PRODUCTION

American workers increased their productivity in the first three months of this year at an annual rate of 3.5 percent, the Labor Department reported last week.

That figure, in line with analysts' expectations, was slightly lower than the government's initial estimate of 4 percent a month ago and follows a downward revision of the quarter's gross domestic product. Productivity, the output per hour of work, is considered the key measurement for determining whether Americans' living standards will increase.

Still, the 3.5 percent increase represents a strong advance, better than the 2.2 percent advance for all of last year. Even the 2.2 percent annual figure represented an improvement from weak productivity growth over the last two decades.