U.S. unit labor costs rose sharply in the third quarter, while productivity declined at its fastest pace since 1960, adding to signs of persistently high inflation. The Labor Department said on Dec. 7 that unit labor costs, the price of labor per single unit of output, increased at a 9.6 percent annualized rate in the third quarter after rising at a 5.9 percent pace in the April–June quarter. The new data represents an upward revision from the 8.3 percent pace of unit labor cost growth the Labor Department reported in November and well above consensus forecasts of 8.4 percent. The sharp rise in third-quarter unit labor costs reflects a 3.9-percent increase in hourly compensation and a 5.2-percent decrease in labor productivity. The 5.2-percent decline in productivity is the largest since the second quarter of 1960 when the measure fell 6.1 percent. The spike in unit labor costs reinforces the view that inflation, …