Subscribe
to Productivity and Costs
|
Labor productivity is a measure of economic performance that compares the amount of goods and services produced (output) with the number of hours worked to produce those goods and services. The BLS also publishes measures of multifactor productivity.
Next Releases:
- Productivity and Costs:
First Quarter 2018, Preliminary
is scheduled to be released on
May 3, 2018
at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.
Learn About Productivity
Explore the meaning of productivity and learn how productivity growth can lead to improvements in our lives and the well-being of our nation.
03/07/2018
Productivity was unchanged (0.0 percent) in the nonfarm business sector in the
fourth quarter of 2017; unit labor costs increased 2.5 percent (seasonally
adjusted annual rates). In manufacturing, productivity increased 6.0 percent and
unit labor costs decreased 3.3 percent.
HTML
|
PDF
|
RSS
|
Charts
04/19/2018
Labor productivity decreased in 54 of the 86 NAICS 4-digit manufacturing industries, while 3 of the 4
mining industries experienced gains in 2017. Growth in hours, coupled with declining output, led to a
productivity decline for most industries.
HTML
|
PDF
|
RSS
08/03/2017
Labor productivity rose in wholesale trade, retail trade, and food services and drinking places in 2016.
Within these sectors, productivity increased in over two-thirds of the NAICS 4-digit industries studied.
HTML
|
PDF
|
RSS
|
Charts
05/18/2017
Labor productivity rose in 17 of 28 service-providing industries in 2016. Output and
hours increased in fewer industries than in 2015.
HTML
|
PDF
|
RSS
Schedule of Upcoming Releases
Archived
Data Tables
Labor Productivity and Costs Measures for:
- Business and Nonfarm Business Sectors - March 7, 2018 (XLSX) (TXT)
- Manufacturing, Durable Manufacturing and Nondurable Manufacturing Sectors - March 7, 2018 (XLSX) (TXT)
- Nonfinancial Corporate Sector - March 7, 2018 (XLSX) (TXT)
- Industries (Interactive) - April 19, 2018
(XLSX 37.7MB),
data only (XLSX 4.35MB)
Hours Worked and Employment Measures for:
- Total U.S. Economy - all workers - March 7, 2018 (XLSX)
- U.S. Nonfarm Economy by Sector - employees only - April 20, 2018 (XLSX)
- Industries (Interactive) - April 19, 2018
(XLSX 14.6MB),
data only (XLSX 1.35MB)
Charts and Dashboards
Major Sector Productivity Program
Industry Productivity Program
- BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 11 Industry Productivity Measures (PDF)
- Industry Hours and Employment. May 2014.
- Construction of Average Weekly Hours for Supervisory and Nonproduction Wage and Salary Workers in Detailed Industries. August 2005. (PDF)
Major Sector Productivity Program
Industry Productivity Program
Archive of Articles on Productivity and Technology »
- Beginning with the Productivity and Costs news release scheduled for March 8, 2017, an improvement in the methodology for estimating hours worked will be implemented. For more information see: https://www.bls.gov/lpc/hwhpnew.htm.
- Data for private community hospitals (Industry 622A) were updated for 2014 on May 18, 2017. These changes have been incorporated into the Labor Productivity and Costs by Industry Tables and the Labor Productivity and Costs by Industry Chart Dashboard. The private community hospitals data were originally added on October 16, 2015.
- Labor productivity and costs data for the nonfinancial corporate sector were corrected December 17, 2012. For more information, see http://www.bls.gov/lpc/lpc_nonfinancial_corporate_correction.htm.
Major Sector Productivity and Cost Data (Quarterly and
Annual) |
| Major Sector Productivity Staff |
(202) 691-5606 |
Contact us |
| Contact a subject matter expert by phone
|
| |
Industry Productivity and Cost Data (Annual) |
| Industry Productivity Studies Staff |
(202) 691-5606 |
Contact us |
| Contact a subject matter expert by phone
|
- Multifactor Productivity--annual indexes for industries and major sectors of the economy that relate output to labor, capital, and--in some cases--other inputs
- Productivity Research and Program Development works on strengthening and improving Bureau productivity measures and on understanding the sources and effects of productivity and technical change. The Division works on clarifying input and output concepts, using methods from microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, labor economics, industrial organization, econometrics, and statistics.
- International Labor Comparisons--comparative information by country on productivity and unit labor costs; compensation; labor force, employment, and unemployment; and consumer prices.
- International Technical Cooperation --conducts training in labor statistics for international participants and coordinates international requests for BLS services including technical experts and short-term visits to BLS.
- Government Productivity Archive
- Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National)--monthly national data by detailed industry on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.
- Producer Price Indexes--monthly data on changes in the selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services.
|
Latest Numbers
Nonfarm Business Sector:
Output per Hour
unchanged in 4th Qtr of 2017
Hourly Compensation
+2.4%(r) in 4th Qtr of 2017
Unit Labor Costs
+2.5%(r) in 4th Qtr of 2017
Output
+3.2% in 4th Qtr of 2017
Hours of All Persons
+3.3% in 4th Qtr of 2017
Manufacturing Sector:
Output per Hour
+6.0%(r) in 4th Qtr of 2017
Hourly Compensation
+2.5%(r) in 4th Qtr of 2017
Unit Labor Costs
-3.3%(r) in 4th Qtr of 2017
Output
+6.6%(r) in 4th Qtr of 2017
Hours of All Persons
+0.5%(r) in 4th Qtr of 2017
|
Historical Data
News Release