Wholesale Trade Industries, 1990-2000 — 2002-06-20

Labor productivity--defined as output per hour--increased 3.0 percent from 1999 to 2000 in wholesale trade, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This rise was below the 4.0 annual percent increase for the entire 1995-2000 period but exceeded the earlier 2.7 annual percent growth in the 1990-1995 period. In 2000, labor productivity increased 4.9 percent in durable-goods wholesale trade and 0.4 percent in nondurable-goods wholesale trade. Thirteen of the 18 wholesale trade industries studied by BLS had labor productivity increases in 2000. Unit labor costs rose in wholesale trade overall, in both durable-goods and nondurable-goods wholesale trade, and in 14 of the 18 wholesale trade industries. With this release, BLS is introducing labor productivity and related series for wholesale trade industries. In the future, they will be incorporated into the annual release on productivity and costs by industry. These new series cover all 3-digit industries within wholesale trade for 1987-2000.