Productivity and Costs: Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Food Services, and Drinking Places Industries News Release — 2013-08-29

Labor productivity - defined as output per hour - rose in wholesale trade and in retail trade but fell slightly in food services and drinking places in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Productivity changes were as follows: 2.5 percent in wholesale trade, 2.4 percent in retail trade, and -0.1 percent in food services and drinking places. Productivity grew faster in wholesale trade and retail trade in 2012 than in 2011, as output increased at the same rate as in the previous year for wholesale trade and more rapidly for retail trade, while hours rose more slowly in both sectors than in 2011. In food services and drinking places, output and hours both rose more rapidly in 2012 than in 2011, but hours rose faster than output.