Third quarter 2011 productivity growth revised downward

December 01, 2011

In the third quarter of 2011, nonfarm business productivity increased 2.3 percent, rather than 3.1 percent, reflecting a downward revision to output with a slight upward revision to hours worked.

[Chart data]

Unit labor costs—defined as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity—in nonfarm businesses were little changed, as the downward revision to productivity was offset by a downward revision to hourly compensation.

From the third quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2011, output increased 2.4 percent while hours rose 1.4 percent, yielding an increase in productivity of 0.9 percent.

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, Third Quarter 2011, Revised" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-1690. 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 revised measures were based on more recent source data than were available for the preliminary report.