4Q2020 Preliminary Headline Productivity Contracts A simple summary of the headlines for this release is that labor costs are growing and productivity is contracting on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Analyst Opinion of Productivity and Costs The overall view this quarter is that nonfarm productivity is up 2.5 % from the same quarter one year ago while unit costs are up 5.2 %. Please note my productivity analysis at the end of this post which is at odds with the headline view. Doing a productivity analysis during a major recession or recovery period is a waste of time as productivity is obscured by government interventions. The market was expecting from Econoday: