US Productivity Grows by Most Since 2020, Labor Costs Decrease

US labor productivity advanced by the most in three years, helping to alleviate the inflationary impact of recent wage growth.

Productivity, or nonfarm business employee output per hour, rose at a 4.7% annualized rate in the third quarter after climbing 3.6% in the prior period, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Thursday.

Unit labor costs, or what a business pays employees to produce one unit of output, decreased at a 0.8% rate after climbing 3.2% in the second quarter. It marked the first decline since late 2022.

Quarterly productivity figures are quite volatile, but overall, ...