U.S. third-quarter productivity revised up to 2.9%

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)
The increase in U.S. productivity in the third quarter was revised up to 2.9% from an initial reading of 1.9%, as companies generated more goods and services than originally estimated Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected productivity to be revised up to 2.8% in the first of the government's two updates to the third-quarter report
The Labor Department said output rose 4.2%, up from a prior estimate of 3.2%, in the July-to-September period
The rise in hours worked last quarter was unchanged at 1.3%
Unit-labor costs, meanwhile, fell by 1.9%, a much bigger drop the than the 0.1% decline initially reported
Unit-labor costs in the second quarter were also revised sharply lower to a 0.5% decline instead of a 1.7% advance
Hourly wages rose 0.9% in the third quarter instead of 1.8%
Yet after adjusting for inflation, wages fell 1.4% vs. an initial reading of a 0.4% decrease
That's the largest drop since the 2011 fourth quarter
In the manufacturing sector, the decline in productivity was revised down to 0.7% from 0.4%
For the second quarter, productivity was unchanged at a 1.9% increase.