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Productivity
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State Labor Productivity: Regional Productivity Trends
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) updated state-level measures of labor productivity on May 29, 2025 in Productivity by State - 2024. The data cover 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four Census regions, from 2007 to 2024. This page presents data highlights for the four Census regions. Comprised of 16 states and the District of Columbia, the South region employed 37.4 percent of the nation’s workers in 2024, while the West, Midwest, and Northeast regions employed 23.5 percent, 21.2 percent, and 17.9 percent, respectively.
Trends in U.S. Regions
The charts below feature trends of productivity and related series in selected time periods for the four U.S. regions – Midwest, Northeast, South, and West. Productivity gains across all four regions were the result of output growing at a faster pace than hours. From 2019 to 2024, hours declined in the Midwest, remained level in the Northeast, and saw slight growth in the South and West. Hourly compensation growth outpaced productivity growth in each period for all regions, leading to increases in unit labor costs. Explore other areas and measures with our interactive charts.
- Midwest Region
- Northeast Region
- South Region
- West Region
BLS creates productivity measures for the nonfarm business sector, U.S. states, and individual industries, such as those in the manufacturing and mining sectors. Labor productivity describes the relationship between output and the hours worked involved in its production. Unit labor costs (ULC) represent the cost of labor required to produce one unit of output. ULC also describes the relationship between compensation per hour worked (hourly compensation) and output per hour (labor productivity).
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Articles:
- BLS publishes experimental state-level labor productivity measures
- Spotlight on State Productivity Statistics
Data tools:
- Interactive Charts
- Private nonfarm labor productivity and costs by state and region (xlsx)
- Regions, States & Areas at a Glance
Productivity Education:
Notes
- Annual Percent Change: The annual percent change is the change in a series from one year to the next as a percent of the series-value in the previous year. Over a period of more than one year, the annual percent change is the compound annual growth rate in an index series, or an annualized average growth rate. Because the change of an index series varies from year to year, the annual percent change for a long time period reflects the constant rate that can be applied to each year in a period, from the start to the end, that would give the same total result. It is calculated as (Ending Value/Starting Value)^(1/Number of Years)–1.
- We do not have measures of industry productivity by state. We also do not have measures for cities, zip codes, counties, or metro areas.
Last Modified Date: June 18, 2025