September 04, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

U.S. led in factory productivity gains in 2000

In 2000, the labor productivity growth rate for manufacturing was the highest in the United States among the 10 countries for which comparable data were available.

Percent change in manufacturing output per hour, by country, 2000
[Chart data—TXT]

The labor productivity increase in the United States was 7.1 percent, followed by 6.0 percent and 5.8 percent in Germany and France, respectively.

The productivity growth rates in Canada and Norway were the lowest among the countries compared, at 1.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. 

These data are a product of the BLS Foreign Labor Statistics program. Labor productivity is measured here as output per hour. Data are subject to revision. Additional information is available in "InternationalComparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends, 2000", news release USDL 01-280.

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

Find out more about the story of TED