US productivity goes up

US non-farm business sector labour productivity increased at a 1.9 percent annual rate during the third quarter of 2012, authorities said.

The increase in productivity, unchanged from the second quarter, reflects increases of 3.2 percent in output and 1.3 percent in hours worked, in the July-September quarter. Over the past year, productivity rose 1.5 percent, reported Xinhua citing the Labor Department.

Unit labour costs, the ratio of hourly compensation to labour productivity, decreased 0.1 percent in the third quarter, while hourly compensation increased 1.8 percent.