--US Q1 non-farm productivity revised to -1.2% from -0.1%
--US Q1 non-farm productivity decline largest in 8 years
--US Q1 non-farm productivity vs Q1 2000 revised to +2.5% from +2.8%
--US Q1 non-farm unit labor costs revised to +6.3% from +5.2%
--US Q1 non-farm unit labor costs increase highest in 11 years
--US Q1 unit labor costs vs Q1 2000 revised to +3.4% from +3.1%
--US Q1 compensation per hour revised to +5.1% from +5.2%

By Andrew Williams
Washington, June 5 (BridgeNews) - Following last month's downward revision to first-quarter gross domestic product, U.S. non-farm productivity growth dropped a revised 1.2% in the first quarter, originally reported as down 0.1%.
The productivity decline was the first decline in 6 years and the largest in 8 years. The plunge in productivity pushed unit labor costs up 6.3%, the largest increase in over 11 years.
* * * Analysts surveyed by BridgeNews expected U.S. non-farm productivity to be revised to down 0.7%. After first-quarter GDP growth was revised to 1.3% from 2.0%, productivity was expected to drop more than first reported.
The decline may stir debate over the permanency of widespread productivity gains of the past 5 years that have been widely credited, most notably by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, with keeping inflation under control.
However, few believe productivity growth will fall off a cliff, having doubled to around 3.0% annual growth since 1995 as firms have grasped new technologies to make their working practices more efficient. Such an environment is central to many economists' belief that while the economy has slowed, its fundamentals remain sound and that growth will rebound by the end of the year.
Compared to the first three months of 2000, non-farm productivity rose 2.5% in the first quarter. Unit labor costs rose 3.4% over the same timeframe, the Labor Department reported.
Non-farm productivity growth in the first quarter reflected a 2.2% increase in non-farm hours worked and a 5.1% gain in compensation. After adjusting for changes in consumer prices, real compensation per hour was up a revised 0.9% in the January-March.

MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY RISES
Manufacturing productivity fell at a 2.1% rate in the first quarter. Manufacturing unit labor costs rose 7.0%, the biggest increase in 10 years.
Manufacturing productivity was originally reported as up 0.3% in the first quarter, with until labor costs up 4.4%.

NON-FINANCIAL PRODUCTIVITY IN Q1
According to new data, productivity of non-financial businesses, which excludes banks and brokerages, fell at an annual rate of 0.1% in the first quarter. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has indicated in the past that he believed this gauge to be a more reliable measure of productivity growth than the non-farm figure. Unit-labor costs at these businesses rose 6.0%.