Revised fourth quarter nonfarm productivity declined 2.2% and unit labor costs increased 4.1%.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected productivity to rise 2.5% and labor costs to slip 0.5%.
The preliminary reads were a 1.8% drop in productivity and a 2.7% jump in labor costs.
In the third quarter productivity rose 3.9% and unit labor costs were down 1.0%.
The productivity drop came as output surged 2.6%, but hours worked surged more, 4.9%.
The unit labor costs rise came on a 1.9% gain in compensation as productivity dropped.
ULC is up 2.6% over the year.
