US Unit Labor Costs Soar By Most In 40 Years Amid Dismal Productivity

US Productivity growth barely rebounded in Q3 (+0.3% QoQ vs -4.1% QoQ in Q2), but this was slower than the 0.5% QoQ expected, after two quarters of huge weakness…

Source: Bloomberg

On a YoY basis, US Productivity is down for the 3rd straight quarter (and 4th quarter of the last 5)…

Source: Bloomberg

On the mirror image of productivity, unit labor costs rose 3.5% QoQ (a notable slowing from the 8.9% QoQ growth in Q2). This was the 6th quarter in a row of rising unit labor costs (but was less than the +4.0% QoQ expected)…

However, on a YoY basis, that is the fastest growth since Q3 1982…

Source: Bloomberg

Simply put, we can’t have job growth and solid productivity when you make up numbers all the time.