The U.S. Labor Department recently published a report affirming that the significant rise in U.S. labor productivity during the third quarter remained consistent with earlier figures. However, the report highlighted a downward revision in the increase of U.S. unit labor costs.
According to the report, labor productivity climbed by 2.2 percent in the third quarter, staying true to initial estimates and aligning with economists' predictions. This robust growth in productivity marks a slight improvement from the 2.1 percent increase observed in the second quarter.
Conversely, the report indicated that the rise in unit labor costs for the third quarter was adjusted downward, now reported at 0.8 percent instead of the initially announced 1.9 percent. This revision was unexpected by economists, who had anticipated no changes to the original projections for unit labor cost growth.
Additionally, the revised data for the second quarter revealed a 1.1 percent decrease in unit labor costs, contrasting the previously reported 2.4 percent increase.
