Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours of all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers. The measures were based on more recent source data than were available for the preliminary report.
Unit labor costs in nonfarm businesses fell 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010, as the 2.8 percent increase in productivity outpaced a 1.5 percent gain in hourly compensation. Unit labor costs fell 4.2 percent.
BLS defines unit labor costs as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity; increases in hourly compensation tend to increase unit labor costs and increases in output per hour tend to reduce them over the last four quarters, as the 6.1 percent increase in output per hour over that period outpaced a 1.6 percent rise in hourly compensation.
BLS defines unit labor costs as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity; increases in hourly compensation tend to increase unit labor costs and increases in output per hour tend to reduce them.
Manufacturing sector productivity grew 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2010, as output rose 7.2 percent and hours worked increased 5.6 percent. Gains in productivity, output, and hours were each larger in the durable goods sector than in the nondurable goods sector. Unit labor costs in manufacturing declined 1.5 percent in the first quarterof 2010 and fell 5.1 percent over the last four quarters. The four-quarter decline was the largest in the series, which begins in the first quarter of 1988.
The data sources and methods used in the preparation of the manufacturing output series differ from those used in preparing the business and nonfarm business output series, and these measures are not directly comparable.
