--US Q4 non-farm productivity revised to +2.2% from +2.4%
--US Q4 non-farm unit labor costs +4.3%; previously at +4.1%
--US non-farm unit labor costs post largest gain since Q4 1997
--US Q4 compensation per hour unrevised at +6.6%
--US Q4 non-farm productivity from Q4 1999 unrevised at +3.4%
--Q4 non-farm unit labor costs from Q4 1999 +2.3%; revised from +2.2%

By Andrew Williams
Washington, March 6 (BridgeNews) - The productivity of the U.S. workforce was revised slightly downward for the fourth quarter of 2000, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. Non-farm labor productivity increased at a revised annual rate of 2.2%, compared with the 2.4% previously reported. Meanwhile, unit labor costs shot up a revised 4.3%, the sharpest increase in three years.
* * * Last week's gross domestic product report for the October-December quarter trimmed U.S. economic growth to 1.1%, from the 2.4% first estimated, prompting many analysts to scale back their estimates of U.S. workforce productivity over the same period.
Analysts expected productivity and unit labor costs to rise 2.0% and 4.3%, respectively, slowing from the 3.0% productivity gain in the third quarter.
Economists, as a rule, expect productivity growth to slow as the economy cools. The current U.S. slowdown gives economists an opportunity to discover if the phenomenal productivity gains over the past couple of years are permanent or cyclical.
From 1974 to 1995, productivity growth averaged about 1.5%, according to Clearview Economics' Ken Mayland. "If we can sustain a number like 2%, we are enjoying productivity growth higher than the average, which means something is really different, in a positive way, about the economy," Mayland said prior to the release of Tuesday's report.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told the House Budget Committee that the central bank forecasts productivity growth "significantly above" rates seen in the past. If that were to be the case, then "a whole series of calculations" on budget surplus projections will "fall into place," he said. Non-farm unit labor costs, which rose 4.3% from the prior quarter, saw their biggest increase since the fourth quarter of 1997, Labor said. Compared to the final three months of 1999, non-farm productivity rose an unrevised 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Unit labor costs rose 2.3% over the same timeframe, up from the 2.2% rise last calculated. Non-farm productivity growth in the fourth quarter reflected a 1.4% annual decrease in non-farm hours worked and a 6.6% gain in compensation. The increase in hourly compensation was the largest since the first quarter of 1992, while the hours worked posted their biggest drop since the first quarter of 1992. After adjusting for changes in consumer prices, real compensation per hour was up a revised 3.6% in the October-December period. It was originally recorded at up 3.8%. MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY RISES AT 5.3% RATE Manufacturing productivity rose at a revised 5.3% rate in the fourth quarter, compared with the 4.8% first reported. Manufacturing unit labor costs rose climbed a revised 3.0%, initially reported at up 3.6%. Those unit costs posted their largest increase since the fourth quarter of 1993. Hourly compensation, which jumped 8.4%, saw its sharpest increase since 1982.