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Productivity up 0.6 percent for the year ending first quarter 2016

May 13, 2016

From the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 0.6 percent, as output rose 2.2 percent and hours worked rose 1.6 percent. Manufacturing productivity increased 1.5 percent over the year, with output rising 0.7 percent and hours worked falling 0.8 percent.

Labor productivity and unit labor costs, nonfarm business sector and manufacturing, percent change from same quarter in previous year, 2006–16
Quarter Productivity, nonfarm business Productivity, manufacturing Unit labor costs, nonfarm business Unit labor costs, manufacturing

Q1 2006

1.3% 3.5% 3.2% 0.0%

Q2 2006

1.3 2.3 2.7 -0.7

Q3 2006

0.2 3.3 2.8 -2.2

Q4 2006

0.9 4.0 3.2 -0.2

Q1 2007

0.4 4.4 4.1 -0.5

Q2 2007

1.1 5.8 3.3 -1.1

Q3 2007

2.7 6.5 1.8 -2.0

Q4 2007

2.3 8.1 1.5 -4.5

Q1 2008

1.2 9.4 1.1 -7.3

Q2 2008

1.6 7.1 0.9 -4.8

Q3 2008

0.7 3.0 2.4 0.1

Q4 2008

-0.4 -3.8 3.4 8.5

Q1 2009

1.4 -10.0 -1.9 14.0

Q2 2009

2.3 -10.2 -0.4 16.5

Q3 2009

3.6 -6.3 -1.8 10.6

Q4 2009

5.5 -0.3 -4.0 2.9

Q1 2010

5.2 7.6 -2.0 -5.3

Q2 2010

3.6 12.4 -1.8 -9.9

Q3 2010

2.6 11.6 -1.1 -9.5

Q4 2010

1.8 11.0 -0.4 -9.1

Q1 2011

0.5 9.2 3.4 -4.7

Q2 2011

0.4 5.4 1.7 -3.5

Q3 2011

-0.3 5.1 2.6 -3.0

Q4 2011

0.1 2.9 0.5 -3.4

Q1 2012

1.1 1.7 0.1 -0.8

Q2 2012

1.3 1.3 0.9 0.4

Q3 2012

1.3 -0.4 0.4 1.5

Q4 2012

0.0 0.4 5.6 3.0

Q1 2013

-0.1 0.5 1.0 -0.8

Q2 2013

-0.8 1.3 2.5 -0.8

Q3 2013

-0.2 1.0 2.1 -0.1

Q4 2013

1.2 0.0 -1.3 -0.2

Q1 2014

0.4 -0.4 3.4 3.7

Q2 2014

1.0 -0.6 0.9 2.4

Q3 2014

1.5 0.2 1.1 2.1

Q4 2014

0.1 0.4 2.8 3.2

Q1 2015

0.7 -0.1 1.2 0.9

Q2 2015

0.9 -0.1 2.6 2.7

Q3 2015

0.6 0.6 2.7 2.4

Q4 2015

0.6 0.6 1.9 1.7

Q1 2016

0.6 1.5 2.3 1.6

From the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector increased 2.3 percent. Unit labor costs in manufacturing increased 1.6 percent over the same period.

These data are from the BLS Labor Productivity and Costs program. All quarterly percent changes shown are subject to revision. To learn more, see “Productivity and Costs — First Quarter 2016, Preliminary,” (HTML) (PDF). Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours worked for all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers. Unit labor costs are the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity. Increases in hourly compensation raise unit labor costs, and increases in output per hour reduce unit labor costs.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Productivity up 0.6 percent for the year ending first quarter 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/productivity-up-0-point-6-percent-for-the-year-ending-first-quarter-2016.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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