2009 First Quarter (Revised) Productivity and Costs — 2009-06-04

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported revised productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all persons--for the first quarter of 2009. The revised seasonally adjusted annual rates of productivity change in the first quarter were: 1.8 percent in the business sector and 1.6 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In both sectors, the first-quarter productivity gains were greater than the preliminary estimates reported on May 7, due solely to revisions to output growth. -2.7 percent in manufacturing, -10.4 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 1.9 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. Manufacturing productivity in the first quarter of 2009 fell at a slower rate than was reported on May 7. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 11 percent of U.S. business- sector employment, tend to vary more from quarter to quarter than data for the aggregate business and nonfarm business sectors.