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Third quarter 2012 productivity revised upward

December 06, 2012

In the third quarter of 2012, nonfarm business productivity increased 2.9 percent, rather than 1.9 percent as reported earlier. The revision resulted solely from an upward revision to output.

Previous and revised productivity and related measures, nonfarm business, third quarter 2012 (quarterly percent change at seasonally adjusted annual rates)
Previous and revised productivity and related measures, nonfarm business, third quarter 2012 (quarterly percent change at seasonally adjusted annual rates)
MeasureQuarterly percent change at annual rate
PreviousRevised

Productivity (output per hour)

1.92.9

Output

3.24.2

Hours

1.31.3

Unit labor costs

-0.1-1.9

In the manufacturing sector, productivity declined 0.7 percent, as revised. Unit labor costs increased 3.2 percent, mainly because of a large upward revision to hourly compensation.

Unit labor costs in nonfarm businesses were revised down and decreased 1.9 percent, a result of the upward revision to productivity and a downward revision to hourly compensation. Unit labor costs have risen just 0.1 percent over the last four quarters.

These data are from the BLS Labor 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 2012, Revised" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-2364. 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.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Third quarter 2012 productivity revised upward at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20121206.htm (visited October 14, 2024).

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