1997 International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends — 1999-03-16

Labor productivity in manufacturing increased during 1997 in all of the 11 countries for which comparable data are available, with the increases ranging from 0.5 percent in the United Kingdom to 6.8 percent in France. (See table A and chart 1.) Labor productivity (output per hour) in U.S. manufacturing increased 4.2 percent during 1997. Canada and the U.K. reversed the productivity declines they had experienced in 1996. (See table B.) These estimates represent revisions to the preliminary estimates contained in a September 1998 news release (USDL: 98-393). The revisions are based on data not available for the earlier news release. The U.S. output series used for international comparisons differs from the manufacturing series that BLS publishes on quarterly measures of U.S. productivity and costs. PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT: CHART 1.