U.S. worker productivity slowed in the fourth quarter, but the trend remained solid, keeping growth in labor costs in check. Nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 2.8% annualized rate last quarter after rising at an upwardly revised 5.2% pace in the third quarter, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast productivity increasing at a 1.9% rate after advancing at a previously reported 4.9% pace in the July-September quarter. Productivity growth in the second quarter was slightly revised up to a 4.2% rate from the previously reported 4.1% pace. Productivity grew at a 2.8% rate from a year ago. It increased 2.2% in 2025.