Productivity And Costs — 2007-09-06

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported revised productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all persons--for the second quarter of 2007. The seasonally adjusted annual rates of productivity change in the second quarter were: 3.5 percent in the business sector and 2.6 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In both sectors, the second-quarter productivity gains were larger than the preliminary estimates reported on August 7. (See table C). 1.8 percent in manufacturing, 4.7 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and -1.4 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. Manufacturing productivity grew slightly faster in the second quarter of 2007 than was reported on Aug. 7, reflecting upward revisions to output per hour in nondurable manufacturing; durable manufacturing productivity was not revised. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 12 percent of U.S. business-sector employment, tend to vary more from quarter to quarter than data for the aggregate business and nonfarm business sectors.