2016 Fourth Quarter (Preliminary) Productivity and Costs — 2017-02-02

(NOTE: This release was reissued February 8, 2017 to correct 2015 annual average data for the nonfinancial corporate sector as shown in table 6 and appendix table 1. These measures reflect corrected source data on output reissued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on February 6, 2017.) Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 1.3-percent annual rate during the fourth quarter of 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as output increased 2.2 percent and hours worked increased 0.9 percent. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.) From the fourth quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2016, productivity increased 1.0 percent, reflecting increases in output and hours worked of 2.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. (See table A1.) Annual average productivity increased 0.2 percent from 2015 to 2016.