2001 International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends — 2002-09-26

United States manufacturing output per hour increased by 1.9 percent in 2001, the fourth largest increase among the 12 countries for which comparable data are available--the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and seven European countries. (See table A and chart 1.) While manufacturing labor productivity continued to grow in 10 of the 12 countries, Canada and Japan experienced their first declines in output per hour since 1998 and 1986, respectively. The U.S. productivity measure posted its lowest annual growth rate since 1991. (Average annual growth rates for selected measures, years, and periods are found in tables A and B. The complete historical index series are shown in tables 1 through 15.) PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT: Chart 1.