Nonfarm productivity rose only 0.2 percent last year

Productivity of the nation's nonfarm work force climbed at an annual rate of 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 1982, but was up only 0.2 percent for the entire year, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The recession and unemployment cut the productivity of factory workers by a full 1 percent, the department said. The overall 0.2 percent productivity increase for 1982 was far behind 1981, when the important measure of economic vigor registered a 1.4 percent gain.