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Output down 11.2 percent, hours worked down 13.6 percent from 2019

September 11, 2020

From the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, nonfarm business output decreased 11.2 percent and hours worked decreased 13.6 percent, resulting in a 2.8-percent increase in productivity.

Nonfarm business labor productivity (output per hour), output, and hours worked indexes
Quarter Output Hours worked Labor productivity (output per hour)

Q2 2015

100.0 100.0 100.0

Q3 2015

100.4 100.1 100.3

Q4 2015

100.4 100.7 99.7

Q1 2016

101.1 101.1 99.9

Q2 2016

101.4 101.4 99.9

Q3 2016

102.0 101.7 100.2

Q4 2016

102.8 102.0 100.9

Q1 2017

103.4 102.3 101.1

Q2 2017

104.0 102.9 101.1

Q3 2017

105.0 103.2 101.7

Q4 2017

106.2 104.0 102.0

Q1 2018

107.3 104.5 102.6

Q2 2018

108.1 105.0 102.9

Q3 2018

108.7 105.5 103.0

Q4 2018

109.1 105.7 103.2

Q1 2019

110.1 105.7 104.2

Q2 2019

110.4 105.5 104.7

Q3 2019

111.2 106.2 104.8

Q4 2019

112.0 106.5 105.2

Q1 2020

110.2 104.8 105.1

Q2 2020

98.1 91.1 107.7

These data are from the Labor Productivity and Costs program. To learn more, see Productivity and Costs — Second Quarter 2020, Revised. Also see Charts related to the latest "Productivity and Costs" news release. Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours worked by all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers. BLS calculates unit labor costs as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Output down 11.2 percent, hours worked down 13.6 percent from 2019 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/output-down-11-2-percent-hours-worked-down-13-point-6-percent-from-2019.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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