Productivity And Costs — 1994-09-07

PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS Second Quarter 1994 Business, Nonfarm Business, Manufacturing, and Nonfinancial Corporations The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported revised productivity datajas measured by output per hour of all personsjfor the second quarter of 1994. The revised seasonally-adjusted annual rates of productivity change in the second quarter were: -2.7 percent in the business sector, and -2.5 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In the second, quarter output growth slowed while hours rose more rapidly than in the first quarter in both sectors; because hours increased more rapidly than output, productivity declined. 4.5 percent in manufacturing, 3.4 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 6.1 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. The productivity advance in manufacturing reflects a strong output gain in the nondurable goods industries. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 20 percent of U.S. business-sector employment, tend to fluctuate more from quarter to quarter than in the business and nonfarm business sectors.