Productivity and Costs by Industry: Wholesale Trade and Retail Trade News Release - 2023 A01 Results — 2024-05-30

Labor productivity declined 1.6 percent in wholesale trade and rose 1.6 percent in retail trade in 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In wholesale trade, productivity decreased for a second year in a row after growing annually since 2011. Wholesale trade output grew a modest 0.4 percent with hours worked growing at a higher rate of 2.1 percent. Retail trade productivity rebounded in 2023 after having declined in 2022. Retail trade output rose 1.6 percent while hours declined 0.1 percent. Unit labor costs, which reflect the total labor costs required to produce a unit of output, rose 6.4 percent in wholesale trade and 0.5 percent in retail trade. The ten largest, four-digit NAICS industries by number of workers represent 57.8 percent of all workers in the wholesale and retail trade sector.