Productivity growth in fourth quarter 2007

March 06, 2008

Productivity in the nonfarm business sector—as measured by output per hour—grew at a revised seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2007. Productivity growth for the fourth quarter was originally estimated at 1.8 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Output in the nonfarm business sector increased at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter; the original estimate was 0.4 percent. Hours of all persons engaged in the sector declined 1.6 percent; the original estimate was a 1.5-percent decline.

In the third quarter of 2007, productivity increased 6.3 percent, reflecting a gain of 5.6 percent in output and a decrease of 0.6 percent in hours.

These data are from the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Data in this report are seasonally adjusted annual rates. These estimates are subject to revision. Additional information is available in "Productivity and Costs, Fourth Quarter and Annual Averages, 2007 Revised" (PDF) (HTML), news release USDL 08-0293.