Material Is Embargoed — 2002-12-04

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 third quarter of 2002. The seasonally adjusted annual rates of productivity growth in the third quarter were: 5.4 percent in the business sector, and 5.1 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In both sectors, upward revisions to productivity were primarily due to increases in output larger than originally reported. In manufacturing, revised productivity increases in the third quarter were: 5.5 percent in manufacturing, 8.8 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 1.3 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. Manufacturing productivity rose less than reported on November 7. This reflects both a small downward revision to output and a small upward revision to hours. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 16 percent of U.S. business sector employment, tend to vary more from quarter to quarter than data for the more aggregate business and nonfarm business sectors.