Labor costs show slower rise, while trade deficit widens and jobless claims nudge lower

The cost of labor rose less than expected, but low productivity helped keep the pressure on inflation in the third quarter, according to

released Thursday.

Unit labor costs, a measure of productivity against compensation, increased 3.5% for the July-to-September period, below the 4% Dow Jones estimate and down from 8.9% in the second quarter.

However, productivity rose at just a 0.3% annualized rate, below the 0.4%…