US Third-Quarter Productivity Pared; Unit Labor Costs Revised Up

Workers disinfect a production line while maintaining social distancing at the start of a shift at Green Circuits as the company, an essential business, adapts to operating during the outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in San Jose, Calif., on April 2, 2020. Stephen Lam/Reuters

WASHINGTON—U.S. worker productivity increased strongly in the third quarter, though the pace of growth was likely overstated as the sharp rebound in output from the COVID-19 pandemic recession has far outpaced employment gains.

The Labor Department said on Dec. 8 that nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 4.6 percent annualized rate last quarter. The slight downward revision from the 4.9 percent pace estimated last month followed a 10.6 percent rate of growth in the second quarter, which was the fastest since the first quarter of 1971.