Manufacturing Industries, 1990-99 — 2001-05-15

Labor productivity rose in 1999 in more than two-thirds of 119 U.S. manufacturing industries, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Slightly more than half of the industries registering productivity growth also posted declines in unit labor costs. In 1999, the most recent year for which underlying data are available for manufacturing industries, labor productivity -- defined as output per hour -- increased in 70 percent of the manufacturing industries. Output rose in 61 percent of the industries, while hours rose in 33 percent of the industries. The share of industries with productivity increases during the 1990-99 period was even greater. From 1990 to 1999, labor productivity increased in 93 percent of the manufacturing industries. Output rose in 85 percent of the industries, and hours rose in 45 percent of them. The attached tables present data for manufacturing industries for which BLS publishes productivity series at the 3-digit level of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual.