2024 First Quarter (Revised) Productivity and Costs — 2024-06-06

Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as output increased 0.9 percent and hours worked increased 0.6 percent. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.) From the same quarter a year ago, nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 2.9 percent, the largest four-quarter increase since the first quarter of 2021, when the measure increased 5.9 percent. (See table A1.) Unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector increased 4.0 percent in the first quarter of 2024, reflecting a 4.2-percent increase in hourly compensation and a 0.2-percent increase in productivity. Unit labor costs increased 0.9 percent over the last four quarters. (See tables A1 and 2.) BLS calculates unit labor costs as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity. Increases in hourly compensation tend to increase unit labor costs and increases in productivity tend to reduce them.