US unit labor costs fell 1.0% in the final Q3 report, a downward revision from -0.2% earlier reported.
A big part of the case for the Fed hiking rates in 2015 is burgeoning wage inflation. Employment and wages take some time to appear in data but this number shows labor costs are starting from an extremely low base.
It also shows that in the 2%-ish US economy that it’s very difficult for workers to get a raise, even when productivity is rising.
Unit labor costs with 4 quarter MA
