WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Labor Department on Friday corrected productivity data from 2019 through 2023 after a computation error in off-the-clock hours worked ratios biased downward the labor hours levels underlying the productivity and costs data published last month.

Worker productivity increased at a 3.3% annualized rate in the fourth quarter, corrected from the previously reported 3.2% pace. Growth in productivity in 2023 was unchanged at 1.3%. Rising worker productivity is helping to contain labor costs for businesses, which ultimately could lead to lower inflation over time.

"This error affected quarterly and annual hours worked data and all labor-related measures, including labor productivity, from first quarter 2019 through fourth quarter 2023 in all sectors," the Labor Department said in a statement.

"The corrected data will be published in the data tables, charts, and database on May 2, 2024."

Third-quarter data was corrected to show productivity growing at a 4.6% pace instead of the previously published 4.7%. Productivity in the second quarter was corrected to a 3.2% growth pace from 3.1%. The decline in productivity in the first quarter was corrected to a 0.4% pace from 0.6%.