the numbers the productivity of american workers rose by a revised 08 annual rate in the third quarter the government said wednesday after updating its initial report the increase was originally put at 03 key details output or the amount of goods and services produced was somewhat stronger than previously reported the increase was raised to 33 from 28 hours worked was revised up a tick to show a 25 annual rate of growth unitlabor costs climbed by a smaller 24 annual pace in the third quarter compared to the preliminary 35 increase over the past year unitlabor costs have risen a sharp 53 reflecting a tight labor market in which companies have had to pay higher wages to attract and retain employees yet because of high inflation workers aren’t really benefiting from more pay inflationadjusted hourly compensation fell at a 23 rate in the third quarter big picture productivity has been weak for years and the pandemic didn’t help that’s a bad thing for the economy rising productivity tends to result in higher business profits rising wages and a better standard of living economists don’t expect productivity to improve much in the next few years market reaction limited the dow jones industrial average djia and sp 500 spx were set to open lower in wednesday trades