Work it harder, do it faster: Growth in U.S. worker productivity slowed at the end of last year, while labor costs rose by 2.4%, according to a Labor Department report out today. Productivity rose at an annual rate of 0.9% in the October-December quarter. That’s half the pace from the July-September quarter. Productivity is the amount of output per hour of work. Worker productivity grew at just 0.4% last year, the slowest pace in nearly a quarter of a century. That was far below the 4% growth in 2010, the most in nine years.
Blacked out: Facebook says technical problems have made its social media site unavailable to some of its European users earlier today. A statement released by the company’s London-based public relations agency says that the issue “has been resolved and everyone should now have access to Facebook.” The scale and length of the outage remains unclear. A representative says she has no immediate information on the problems or their nature.
A natural fit: More natural gas-powered vehicles will hit the market soon, as rising gasoline prices, booming natural gas production and proposed tax credits make them an attractive option. But they’re a long way from being a common sight in U.S. driveways. Chrysler plans to sell a Ram 2500 Heavy Duty pickup that runs on compressed natural gas starting in July. The truck has both a gasoline tank and a natural gas storage tank, and its engine shifts seamlessly between the two power sources. The truck can run for 255 miles on natural gas and another 367 miles using gasoline. Later this year, General Motors Co. will sell natural-gas versions of two pickups. Ford Motor Co. has offered natural gas–ready pickups and vans since 2009. The Associated Press has the full story on the promise of natural gas vehicles and the challenges they face here.
