Productivity rises on job cuts

WASHINGTON -- Worker productivity rose in the third quarter by the largest amount in more than a year as businesses, coping with the sour economy, slashed workers' hours at the fastest pace in a decade.

Productivity -- the amount of output per hour of work -- increased at an annual rate of 2.7 percent in the July-September quarter, up from a 2.2 percent growth rate in the second quarter, the Labor Department reported today.

The third quarter's performance was better than the 2 percent productivity gain many analysts were expecting and was the biggest increase since the second quarter of 2000.

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