2008 Fourth Quarter (Revised) Productivity and Costs — 2009-03-05

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported revised fourth-quarter seasonally-adjusted annual rates of productivity change--as measured by output per hour of all persons--and revised changes for calendar year 2008. Percent changes in business and nonfarm business productivity were: Productivity growth for the fourth quarter of 2008 was revised down by 3.5 percentage points in the business sector and 3.6 percentage points in the nonfarm business sector from the estimates published February 5. In both sectors output was revised down by 3.2 percentage points and hours were revised up by 0.1 percentage point. Productivity growth during calendar year 2008 was not revised in either sector. ============================================================================== Data in this release reflect annual benchmark revision of BLS Current Employment Statistics program data on nonfarm employee hours, and revised seasonal adjustment of those data. Also, hours of other nonfarm and farm workers based on the BLS Current Population Survey incorporate new seasonal adjustment factors.