Productivity and Costs: Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Food Services, and Drinking Places Industries News Release — 2012-08-30

Labor productivity - defined as output per hour - rose 1.9 percent in wholesale trade, 2.2 percent in retail trade and was unchanged in food services and drinking places in 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Productivity growth was lower in all three sectors in 2011 compared to 2010. Output increased in all three sectors, and grew more rapidly in retail trade and in food services and drinking places in 2011 than in 2010. Notably, hours also rose in all three sectors in 2011, after falling in wholesale trade and in food services and drinking places in 2010. Unit labor costs, which reflect the total labor costs required to produce a unit of output, rose in wholesale trade and in food services and drinking places in 2011, but fell in retail trade.