Productivity and Costs by Industry News Release — 2008-03-20

Labor productivity – defined as output per hour – rose in 52 percent of the manufacturing industries studied in 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This proportion was much smaller than the 88 percent that recorded productivity increases in the previous year. Output, the production of manufactured goods, rose in 56 percent of the industries in 2006 and hours fell in 57 percent. Unit labor costs declined in 33 percent of the industries. From 1987 to 2006, labor productivity increased in all but 1 of the 86 manufacturing industries. Output rose in 78 percent of the industries and hours fell in 79 percent. Unit labor costs fell in 24 percent of the industries during the period. Labor productivity increased in 2006 in 13 of the 21 3-digit manufacturing industries. Table 1 shows the range of productivity changes in these industries.