Productivity And Costs — 1996-03-06

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported preliminary fourth-quarter seasonally adjusted annual rates of change in productivity--as measured by output per hour of all persons--and changes for the full year 1995. In the fourth quarter, productivity was unchanged in the business sector as output and hours worked both rose a moderate 1.2 percent. In the nonfarm business sector, productivity dropped as hours rose 1.6 percent, somewhat more than the 1.1 percent increase in output. Percent changes in business and nonfarm business productivity were: For the year 1995, productivity showed modest improvements over 1994 levels in both the business and nonfarm business sectors. Fourth-quarter productivity and related measures are summarized in table A and appear in detail in tables 1 through 5. Annual data are summarized in table B. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: On February 8, 1996, BLS switched to annual-weighted output indexes for computations underlying its regular Productivity and Costs news releases.