2007 Revised International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends — 2009-03-03

Manufacturing labor productivity increased in 2007 in 14 of the 17 economies compared by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Republic of Korea and Taiwan had the largest productivity increases of 8.7 percent each. The United States productivity increase of 4.7 percent was the fourth largest. Singapore, included for the first time in these comparisons, had the steepest decline (-4.0 percent) of the three economies where productivity declined. (See chart 1.) Over the 2000-2007 period, of the 17 economies studied, only Korea, Taiwan, and Sweden had greater productivity growth in manufacturing than the United States. Average annual growth rates for selected measures over various time periods are shown in tables A and B. The data presented for the United States differ from those appearing in BLS Productivity and Costs news releases.