Economic News Release

Internet: http://www.bls.gov/lpc/home.htm	USDL 08-1184
Technical information: (202) 691-5618		For release: 10:00 a.m.  EDT
Media contact: (202) 691-5902			Thursday, August 21, 2008


		       PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS BY INDUSTRY:
			WHOLESALE TRADE, RETAIL TRADE, AND
		 FOOD SERVICES AND DRINKING PLACES INDUSTRIES, 2007

	Labor productivity - defined as output per hour - increased in wholesale trade and retail 
trade, and fell in food services and drinking places in 2007 as follows:

       2.1 percent in wholesale trade
       3.7 percent in retail trade and  
      -0.5 percent in food services and drinking places.

Output grew in each of these sectors in 2007.  Hours increased in wholesale trade and in food 
services and drinking places, and declined in retail trade.  Productivity rose in 34 of the 50 detailed 
industries studied. (See table 1.)  Unit labor costs declined in 22 of these industries, were unchanged 
in the retail trade sector, and increased in the wholesale trade and food services and drinking places 
sectors. 

	From a longer term perspective, labor productivity increased at the following average annual 
rates between 1987 and 2007:

       3.3 percent in wholesale trade
       3.3 percent in retail trade and
       0.6 percent in food services and drinking places.

Output and hours increased in all of these sectors over the period.  Productivity rose in 48 of the 50 
detailed industries. (See table 2.)  Unit labor costs fell in 17 industries and in the retail trade sector, 
but grew in the wholesale trade and food services and drinking places sectors during the period.

2006-2007 change

	Wholesale trade:  Labor productivity increased 2.1 percent, as output grew 3.8 percent and 
hours rose 1.7 percent.  Output per hour grew in 12 of the 19 detailed wholesale trade industries in 
2007.  Commercial equipment wholesalers (NAICS 4234) experienced the largest productivity gain, 
13.7 percent.  Unit labor costs fell in seven of the 19 detailed industries, but rose 1.9 percent in 
wholesale trade overall.

	Retail trade:  Labor productivity grew 3.7 percent as output increased 3.0 percent while 
hours fell 0.6 percent.  Output per hour rose in 20 of the 27 detailed retail trade industries in 2007.  
The largest increases in productivity occurred in lawn and garden equipment and supplies stores 
(NAICS 4442) and electronics and appliance stores (NAICS 4431), 17.3 percent and 14.3 percent, 
respectively.  Although unit labor costs fell in 14 of the 27 industries studied, unit labor costs in the 
retail sector as a whole were unchanged.
 
	Food services and drinking places:  Labor productivity fell 0.5 percent as output increased 
1.7 percent and hours grew 2.2 percent.  Two of the four industries in food services and drinking 
places registered productivity gains in 2007.  The largest increase in productivity, 7.0 percent, 
occurred in drinking places (NAICS 7224).  Unit labor costs grew in three of the four detailed 
industries and increased 4.6 percent in food services and drinking places overall.

Long-term trends

	Wholesale trade:  Labor productivity rose 3.3 percent per year, on average, between 1987 
and 2007.  Output increased 4.1 percent per year and hours grew 0.7 percent per year.  Labor 
productivity rose in 17 of the 19 detailed industries.  The fastest growth in output per hour occurred 
in commercial equipment wholesalers (NAICS 4234) and electric goods wholesalers (NAICS 
4236), 15.6 percent and 8.9 percent per year, respectively.  Unit labor costs rose in all but two of the 
wholesale trade industries over the period, and increased 0.9 percent per year overall in the 
wholesale trade sector.

	Retail trade:  Labor productivity increased an average 3.3 percent per year from 1987 to 
2007, while output rose 4.1 percent per year and hours grew 0.7 percent.  Output per hour increased 
in all 27 detailed industries.  Labor productivity rose the fastest in electronics and appliance stores 
(NAICS 4431), 13.4 percent per year, followed by electronic shopping and mail-order houses 
(NAICS 4541) at 12.2 percent per year.  Unit labor costs declined in 15 of the 27 industries in this 
sector during the time period and declined 0.2 percent per year in retail trade overall.

	Food services and drinking places:  Labor productivity grew 0.6 percent per year on 
average, as output increased 2.4 percent per year and hours grew 1.8 percent per year.  Productivity 
increased in all of the food services and drinking places industries from 1987-2007.  Unit labor 
costs also increased in each of the detailed industries, and rose 3.2 per year in food services and 
drinking places overall.

Additional Information

	The measures in this news release incorporate current data from the Census Bureaus 
Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey (May 2008) and Monthly Retail Trade Survey (April 2008).  Also 
included in this release are BLS employment and hours from the March 2008 Current Employment 
Statistics (CES) survey and wages from the July 2008 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.  
The measures replace the wholesale trade, retail trade, and food services and drinking places series 
published on the BLS website, in the news release Productivity and Costs by Industry: Wholesale 
Trade, Retail Trade, and Food Services and Drinking Places, 2006 (released August 28, 2007) and 
in table 50 of the Monthly Labor Review.  All of the measures for 2007 in this release are 
preliminary and subject to revision.

       While the index numbers and rates of change reported by BLS in this news release are 
rounded to one decimal place, all industry productivity percent changes are calculated using index 
numbers to three decimal places.
       
       Industry productivity and cost measures are produced as data become available.  Measures 
for industries in other sectors have been published in separate releases that can be accessed online 
at: http://www.bls.gov/schedule/archives/prin_nr.htm.  Indexes and rates of change for all covered 
industries can be accessed electronically by visiting the Labor Productivity and Costs web site at 
http://www.bls.gov/lpc/#tables.  Data on industry employment, hours, labor compensation, value of 
production, and the implicit price deflator for output for these industries are available upon request 
by calling the Division of Industry Productivity Studies (202-691-5618) or by sending a request by 
e-mail to dipsweb@bls.gov.  
	
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