Material Is Embargoed — 1998-12-03

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 third quarter of 1998. The seasonally adjusted annual rates of productivity growth in the third quarter were: 3.1 percent in the business sector, and 3.0 percent in the nonfarm business sector. These increases in labor productivity are larger than those originally reported for the quarter. In manufacturing, revised productivity increases in the third quarter were: 5.2 percent in manufacturing, 8.3 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 1.6 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. The third-quarter productivity increase in manufacturing occurred as output rose slightly--0.7 percent--and hours of all persons working in the sector dropped 4.3 percent. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 18 percent of U.S. business sector employment, tend to vary more from quarter to quarter than data for the more aggregate business and nonfarm business sectors.