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International manufacturing productivity, 2011

December 20, 2012

In 2011, manufacturing productivity increased in 15 of 19 countries covered. In the majority of those countries, labor productivity (output per hour) rose by more than 2 percent—generally driven by gains in output coupled with modest changes in hours.

Percent change in manufacturing output, hours, and output per hour, selected countries, 2010–2011
 OutputHoursOutput per hour

United States

4.32.22.0

Australia

-2.12.0-4.0

Belgium

3.33.10.2

Canada

2.40.51.9

Czech Republic

9.8-0.310.1

Denmark

1.5-0.92.3

Finland

2.02.1-0.1

France

1.2-1.02.2

Germany

8.13.54.5

Italy

0.61.0-0.4

Japan

-3.6-0.8-2.8

Korea, Republic of

7.21.16.0

Netherlands

3.5-0.54.0

Norway

1.90.02.0

Singapore

7.6-0.38.0

Spain

2.4-2.55.1

Sweden

6.12.63.4

Taiwan

4.92.02.8

United Kingdom

2.1-2.34.5

In 2011, among those countries covered, only the United Kingdom had larger productivity growth in manufacturing than in 2010; in all other countries covered, productivity growth slowed down or declined. Only the Czech Republic and Singapore experienced productivity growth of 8 percent or higher in 2011, while in 2010 the majority of countries experienced growth that exceeded 8 percent.

These data are from the International Labor Comparisons program. Refer to Country at a Glance tables for additional data on international labor comparisons. To learn more, see "International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends, 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-2365.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, International manufacturing productivity, 2011 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20121220.htm (visited May 10, 2024).

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