It shows U.S. economy is somewhat solid with labor market condition. Even though recent inflationary pressure is very low, ULC, unit labor costs, and compensation data in annual rate are firm similar with previous year.
Especially in 3Q, U.S. GDP growth was subdued as face headwind of high inventory/sales ratio. Under this vulnerable environment, productivity data was up more than market expectation. Albeit someone like Richard Fisher does not believe this as a faithful indicator, I think this could underpin firm economic momentum in U.S.

Productivity & Costs (SAAR, %) | Q3'15 | Q2'15 | Q1'15 | Q3 Y/Y | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonfarm Business Sector | |||||||
Output per Hour (Productivity) | 1.6 | 3.5 | -1.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.9 |
Compensation per Hour | 3.0 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 2.7 |
Unit Labor Costs | 1.4 | -1.8 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.7 |
Manufacturing Sector | |||||||
Output per Hour (Productivity) | 4.9 | 2.1 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
Compensation per Hour | 5.9 | 0.0 | -2.2 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 0.2 | 1.8 |
Unit Labor Costs | 0.9 | -2.0 | -1.6 | 0.5 | 1.4 | -0.5 | 1.0 |
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