US Worker Productivity Barely Rises, Though Helps Cool Labor Costs
- Worker productivity rose annualized 0.3% in third quarter
- Labor costs slow to 3.5% pace, still up solidly from year ago
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US worker productivity barely increased in the third quarter after steep declines in the first half of the year, though enough to slow the pace of labor cost growth.
Productivity, or nonfarm business employee output per hour, increased at a 0.3% annual rate in the third quarter, according to Labor Department figures Thursday. That compared to a 4.1% decline in the second quarter and the 0.5% projected advance in a Bloomberg survey of economists.