Productivity And Costs — 1994-05-05

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported preliminary productivity data as measured by output per hour of all persons for the first quarter of 1994. The seasonally-adjusted annual rates of productivity change in the first quarter were: 0.5 percent in the business sector, and 0.5 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In both sectors, output gains were much smaller than in the fourth quarter of 1993. 6.6 percent in manufacturing, 7.9 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 4.3 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. Productivity advances in manufacturing reflected strong output gains, particularly in durable goods industries. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 20 percent of U.S. business-sector employment, tend to change more from quarter to quarter than in the business and nonfarm business sectors. First- quarter measures are summarized in table A and appear in detail in tables 1 through 5.