2004 International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends — 2005-10-27

Among fourteen countries under comparison, seven, including the United States, had manufacturing productivity gains of over 4.5 percent in 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Labor�s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Korea registered the largest gain (+12.1 percent), followed by Sweden (+9.3 percent). Manufacturing productivity increased in all of the compared economies except Italy and Australia. (See chart 1.) U.S. productivity growth in manufacturing in 2004 was 4.7 percent, about half the increase of 2003, and less than the average yearly increases over the last decade. It was greater, however, than the average annual growth rate since 1979. Six of the other 13 economies for which comparisons are available also had productivity growth in 2004 that exceeded their annual average increases over the 1979-2004 period. (Average annual growth rates for selected measures over various time periods are found in tables A and B.) PRINTED COPY CONTAINS CHART AT THIS POINT: Chart 1.