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. ... (full story)