August 12, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Productivity up in second quarter

Nonfarm business sector productivity—as measured by output per hour—increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.1 percent in the second quarter of 2002. Output edged up 0.5 percent and hours declined 0.7 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

In the first quarter of 2002, productivity in the nonfarm business sector grew at annual rate of 8.6 percent, with output increasing 6.2 percent and hours decreasing 2.2 percent. The first quarter’s increase in output per hour was the largest in this sector since the second quarter of 1983, when it increased 9.9 percent.

Hourly compensation in the nonfarm business sector increased 3.6 percent in both the first and second quarters of 2002. Real hourly compensation, which takes into account changes in consumer prices, increased at an annual rate of 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2002, following an increase of 2.2 percent in the first quarter.

These data are a product of the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Data are subject to revision. Additional information is available in "Productivity and Costs, Second Quarter 2002" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 02-469.