Manufacturing Industries, 1987-97 — 2000-05-26

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today on labor productivity and unit labor cost changes for selected industries in the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy. This is the first industry productivity news release to include unit labor costs, introduced by BLS in 1999 for these industries. Labor productivity--defined as output per hour--rose in 1997 in nearly three-fourths of the industries reported here. More than half of the industries registering productivity growth also posted declines in unit labor costs. In 1997, the most recent year for which output data are available for manufacturing industries, output per hour increased in 74 percent of the manufacturing industries. Output, which is the production of goods and services, rose in 77 percent of the industries, while hours rose in 63 percent of the industries. The share of industries with productivity increases over a longer period was even greater.