Productivity And Costs — 2007-03-06

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 2006. Percent changes in business and nonfarm business productivity were: In both the business and nonfarm business sectors, productivity growth for the fourth quarter of 2006 was revised down by 1.4 percentage points from the estimates published February 7, due solely to downward revisions to output. Productivity growth during calendar year 2006 also was less than previously reported in both sectors, but the revisions to annual data were almost entirely explained by upward revisions to hours worked. ============================================================================== Data in this release reflect the annual benchmark revision of BLS Current Employment Statistics program data on nonfarm employee hours, and revised seasonal adjustment of those data.